1963: We didn't have anybody like John Lewis in our area but we were concerned about what’s happening in Daytona Beach. There was one restaurant that was very well known... Morrison’s. They would let Black people have food but you had to come in through the service entrance and you couldn’t sit down. It was only takeout. So we did a non-violent protest in front of Morrison’s.
So I was marching in a circle in front of Morrison’s with other students. And this middle-aged white lady kept bumped when I walked by. And she kept bumping me. And by the fourth time she came by... I bumped her. I gave her an elbow. And she was shocked...she was shocked that I would do something like that to her (what she had been doing to me).
On the way home...we’re walking back to campus and a redneck pulled up alongside of us in a truck and said ‘your president is dead! Your president is dead.” We didn’t know what he was talking about. When we got back to the campus we learned that Kennedy had been shot. I had an afternoon class in German and I went to the class and the professor said in Spanish ‘no class today.' Close your books. And we went to the dormitories. It was a Friday. Same day as John Lewis’s death this past week...a Friday. November 22nd 1963.
We did a sit-in at Woolworth Drugstore in Miami. They had a big counter where you could get sandwiches. I went down to participate but all the older black teenagers were already in the counter seats. White guys were calling them names, pulling them by the collars, but the black teens didn’t respond. But those were the days. White and Black fountains in Miami. Did they think the water was coming out of a different place? Oh well.
So I was marching in a circle in front of Morrison’s with other students. And this middle-aged white lady kept bumped when I walked by. And she kept bumping me. And by the fourth time she came by... I bumped her. I gave her an elbow. And she was shocked...she was shocked that I would do something like that to her (what she had been doing to me).
On the way home...we’re walking back to campus and a redneck pulled up alongside of us in a truck and said ‘your president is dead! Your president is dead.” We didn’t know what he was talking about. When we got back to the campus we learned that Kennedy had been shot. I had an afternoon class in German and I went to the class and the professor said in Spanish ‘no class today.' Close your books. And we went to the dormitories. It was a Friday. Same day as John Lewis’s death this past week...a Friday. November 22nd 1963.
We did a sit-in at Woolworth Drugstore in Miami. They had a big counter where you could get sandwiches. I went down to participate but all the older black teenagers were already in the counter seats. White guys were calling them names, pulling them by the collars, but the black teens didn’t respond. But those were the days. White and Black fountains in Miami. Did they think the water was coming out of a different place? Oh well.
No comments:
Post a Comment