[Dialogue] Selma

Sat Aug 6 17:47:55 EDT 2011

Selma seems to have captured us.  So I shall tell an expanded account of Selma.  
Bob Fishell and I were the first to go from EI/the Order. We were working in the 
Local Church Project (what was to become Fifth City).  The day after the 
terrible attack on MLK's attempt to march across the bridge, King put out an 
appeal for clergy from across the country to come and help.  Fishel said lets 
go.  I said OK.  We asked JWM for permission to go and to be sent.  He said 
yes.  So that night (Monday night) we were on a flight to Montgomery.  Also on 
the plane we met two Chicago pastors who were a part of the Clergy Cadre we had 
just formed.  We were met at the airport and driven to Selma by a woman from 
Detroit who was helping the cause.  

It was a very exciting event with great services in one of the Black churches at 
least twice  a day and almost continuous rallies of one kind or another.  We 
stayed with black families in Selma.  I think it was the second day after we 
arrived a Congregational Pastor from New England was beaten to death with 
baseball bats at a restaurant in Selma.  We had been urged to stay in the 
neighborhood of the church, but two or three pastors decided it would be safe go 
for a meal in the center of town.  How wrong they were.

The decision had been made to keep a significant contingent of people ready to 
march toward and across the bridge toward Montgomery.  The third or fourth night 
we were there Fishel and I were assigned to be in the "ready to march"  
contingent.  There were other clergy and many students, both black and 
white---perhaps 75-100 altogether.  We all were singing Freedom  Movement songs 
and dancing, etc.   After a while The two our three rows of students ahead of us 
began to surge toward the line of heavily armed State Police blocking the way to 
the Bridge, and the whole contingent joined in.  Off to the side officers from 
the Alabama Bureau of Investigation were photographing us.  The surge would go 
directly up to the faces of the offficers almost bumping into them.  Fishel and 
I were in the third row.  This really frightened me.  If someone should trip and 
fall into an officer, I could not imagine what might happen.  I turned to Fishel 
and said: "We have to stop this. It's too dangerous.  He broke into raucus 
laughter, and just shook his head.  It suddenly dawned on me the reality of the 
famous phrase of the period "You can't trust anyone over 30."  Fishel was 26 and 
I was 34.  We survived the night.

After a few days it was decided that I should return to Chicago and help get the 
busload of people from Fifth City recruited and ready to go for the final push.  
David Scott was sent to replace me, and to help prepare for the arrival of the 
bus. I was to stop in Washington on my way and visit two Texas Senators and two 
Texas Representatives I knew.  Particularly, we wanted to thank Senator Ralph 
Yarborough of Texas, who was the only Southern Senator to express outrage in the 
Senate over what had happened on the Bridge.

I cannot remember who was on the bus; however, I am certain that Joe was not. 

I hope I have shed a little common memory on the subject and that this has not 
been too verbose.

Grace and Peace,
Charles

________________________________
From: Norm and Judy Lindblad <nj.lindblad at gmail.com>
To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Sat, August 6, 2011 11:25:45 AM
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Selma

Thank you Anne for this vivid retelling.  There are so many stories!  We are 
blessed to have them and to have folks like you, who were eye witnesses to 
history, share them with us.   

In our pre-EI days, we were at First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, Conn. When 
our pastor, George Cox, told the congregation that he felt called to go to 
Selma, Norm and I dug into our newlywed pockets and contributed for his bus 
fare.  

These are still the times and we are still the people.

Grace and peace, Judy Lindblad

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 3:17 PM, Anne Wood <awoodewm at aol.com> wrote:

>Betty Pesek was not there and neither was Joe Mathews.
>
>My memory of the event is vivid but the cast of characters is blured....
>
>I remmeber Donna McClesky was there and she was very pregnant at the time. I 
>also think that Joe Slicker and Fred Buss were there.
>
>We rode all night on a Greyhound bus........We arrived at some field where they 
>were putting up a huge tent.... there was to be some sort of entertainment that 
>night.
>
>There had been much reported in the news about the "kind of trash" that was 
>particapating in the march (including the easy availability of prostitutes). 
>Sooooooooo I had worn my most expensive "David Dow" suit, heels and yes white 
>gloves.
>
>As we got off the bus and strolled across the field to the tent suddenly out of 
>no where came wind and sheets of rain! We rushed under the tent for cover just 
>as the tent pole pulled out of the ground...into the air.....and we were all 
>knocked into what had become a mess of mud and we were trapped under the 
>collapsed tent. So much for a respectable apperance!
>
>There's lots more to this story......it was indeed an awesome event and I will 
>never forget a moment
>Anne Wood.
>
> 
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