Under the baobab: With unclenched fists, we must find a way to navigate the next few months
“We who believe in freedom, can not rest until it comes.” -Bernice Johnson Reagon
Our beloved friend and civil rights icon, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, has joined the ancestors. I first met her while organizing voter registration drives in Mississippi back in the ‘60s. Like me she had come to the Mississippi to help dismantle racial segregation and discrimination. As one of the SNCC Freedom Singers, she gave us another tool — the freedom song. When we heard of comrades being killed, injured or jailed, it was freedom songs that opened our spiritual prison. When KKK night riders terrorized our meetings and homes, we heard the voices of Bernice and the Freedom Singers telling us that “we shall not be moved.” When despair threatened our resolve we sang that one day “we shall overcome.” Later she founded the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, continuing to inspire the movement.
We are also saddened that former president Donald Trump was almost assassinated. We wish peace and comfort to him and his family. When we quarrel politically we should not resolve our differences through violence. Dialogue and disagreement are the bedrock of democracy. As Martin Luther King said, “hate can not drive out hate. Only love can do that.”
In the ‘60s a series of senseless killings altered the trajectory of the movement and the country. In 1963, the deaths of Medgar Evers, President John Kennedy and four little girls at Sunday school in a Birmingham church created major stumbling blocks on the road to freedom and equality. In ‘64 Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were slaughtered by the KKK. In ‘65 it was Malcolm X and Viola Liuzzo who died for the cause. In ‘66 it was Vernon Dahmer and Ben White. In ‘68 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Bobby Kennedy were assassinated, joining the hundreds — no thousands — of martyrs who died for justice and equality. Fortunately Donald Trump was not killed. But Corey Comperatore was martyred while shielding his family.
Brothers and sisters, we need to find a way to navigate the next few months. We are approaching the most important presidential election of our lifetime. We need to unclench our fists and open our hands. Whatever happens after the ballots are counted, we as citizens, as neighbors, will still be here with each other, to carry on.
In the community
As part of their Secret Planet series, which brings internationally and globally inspired music to central Pennsylvania, 3 Dots presented the Grammy Award winning Colombian band, Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto. The group founded by Miguel Antonio Hernandez Vasquez in 1940 presently features Rafaeo Castro Fernandez, Gabriel Torregrossa, Wilson El Tambolero Fontalvo, Nestor Adolfo Rodriguez, Ivan and Luis Miguel Salcedo. 3 Dots Executive Director Erica Quinn estimated that there were a hundred or so folks at the event. During the the evening most were dancing in the aisle. Los Gaiteros next performance will be at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
The opening act was Ady Marinez Band with Ady, Eric Ian Farmer, Kevin Sims, Jaime Basbillo and vocalist Natahalia Velasquez. They were wonderful. 3 Dots mission is to “inspire a more vibrant community by elevating the humanities, promoting local arts, cultivating innovative experiences and offering an inclusive public space for civic engagement.” Their next performance on July 22 at 7 p.m. will feature The Meridian Brothers.
Happy Valley Latin Festival and Gorinto Productions held a fundraising event at the MLK Plaza on Friday featuring music by DJ Elbow Knee-Knee. The Alpha Fire Company of State College is celebrating 125 years of protecting the Centre Region with a carnival on Allen Street on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The celebration will include fire trucks, ambulances, horse race carnival games, antique fire trucks, fire safety demonstrations, live music, food, bucket rides and plenty of activities for kids.