Tifton, Georgia

The idea of a Sundown town is nothing strange when it comes to my family. My mom spent a fair amount of her childhood in Tifton, Georgia. This was a period in time when the state of Georgia finally caved and integrated their public schools. Tifton was split by a railroad line and as you can guess one side was black and the other was white. My mom was bussed 45 minutes across town to the dilapidated african-american run schools and many of their students were bussed to the much nicer white schools. Her family was all about everyone having an equal opportunity at a proper education but why was she being bussed to the under funded and under staffed school nearly an hour away. Needless to say her family was very frustrated.

Her stories from Tifton are not exactly heart warming, it was an unofficial sundown town. The racial tension could be cut with a knife. After living their for a few years, a black family moved in next door from way out of town. My grandfather made an effort to warn them but they didn't understand the gravity of what it meant to live on the wrong side of the railroad tracks. The night after they moved in my mom woke up to in the middle of the night to see a giant cross burning in their new neighbors yard. The Klu Klux Klan had gotten word of them moving in and made it very clear they were not welcome. Before the end of the next day the family had packed their things and moved out of town. 

Seattle May Day Protest

I talked earlier about the violence that took place at the Kent State protests during Vietnam. This is a story with a slightly different ending. May Day is international holiday for workers to protest better working conditions. In Seattle, apparently this protest is a big deal as the turn out was enormous. There was rioting in the streets. Police moved in with riot gear and attempted to defuse the situation without using lethal force. Protestors proceeded to shoot fireworks, throw rocks, and fling molotov cocktails at police. These clashes lasted all day and by the end of it nine protestors were arrested and five officers were injured.

Which considering our country's history with riots is a miraculous outcome. The mayor of Seattle was quoted in saying, "It is unfortunate and deeply regrettable that in a city that goes to incredible lengths to respect First Amendment rights, there are some who disregard our values and engage in senseless acts of violence and property destruction," he said. "My thoughts are with the officers who were injured."(CNN). If only the police could have been this careful in 1970, but either way fortunately times have changed.

Exxon and Climate Change

The oil giant Exxon is suing claiming their first amendment rights are being violated. The company was served a subpoena to release their documents on climate change to the public, as there was suspicion that they have been misleading the public. The issue stems from investors concern that the company isn't being honest about their impact on climate change. 

Exxon is refusing the subpoena and in tern suing under the first amendment, as they believe their right to freedom of speech is being violated. Exxon has also come out on record saying they believe this to be a political move and will fight this to the bitter end. 

Kent State Massacre

On April 30th 1970, President Richard Nixon announced we would be invading Cambodia and thus would officially be involved in the Vietnam War. Outraged poured in from across the nation especially on college campuses. One that was particularly opposed to the issue was the students at Kent State. They held a school wide protest that started out as a peaceful demonstration but slowly got out of hand. The state of Ohio immediately declared Marshall Law and chaos ensued.

The National Guard was brought in to defuse the situation but this would turn out to be a fatal mistake. On May 4th, twenty-eight of the ninety guardsmen posted on campus opened fire into the crowd of students. Four of these students were killed and nine were severely injured in the incident. The nation was outraged. In the aftermath, eight of the twenty-eight were indicted but all charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. It is a fact that everyone has a right to peaceful protest and when it gets out of hand it crucial that police or military defuse it but how could it ever be imaginable to fire into a crowd of unarmed students. Whether it was a mob or not this kind of animalistic behavior was not only tolerated but backed by the justice system as all the shooters walked away scott free.