actually the last year of segregation was
1969 and I just missed it and I turned my
back on my brothers and sisters I considered
myself a socially conscious person and of
course 3 channels I was watching Vietnam War
and the womenÕs right movement and all of
that but right there in the South we didnÕt
know about it we didnÕt learn about it we
knew about it but it wasnÕt something talking
about in school or anything like that. The
very hospital that both David and I were born
in we lived in the same county. I lived in
Crowder, MI and he lived in Marks which is
the county but there is one hospital and it
was between Crowder and Marks and it was in
Lambert and David and I were born in the same
hospital 15 years apart. In that hospital
in my lifetime your talking 65-mid 70Õs that
hospital was segregated I learned earlier
on we went through the backdoor because it
was accessible and guess what I got to see
the people going through the front door and
I saw segregation and I wanted to know why
was I going here why the white people where
here and the blacks back there. So I experienced
that until the late 70Õs and Marks. Im going
back there one day and do something about
it like you but today the mule train started
there in Marks, MI. The old Marks to Washington
and thereÕs not one marker taught in school
or anything lese to me itÕs pretty incredible.
David here is one of my favorite people. He
was born in 1951 and he was a little boy and
all this stuff was going on and the mule train
was there for a week or ten days and people
gathered to get ready for a trip and DavidÕs
dad was the town, he worked for the sheriff
Department with a gun in his hand because
he was told to and he doesnÕt even hunt and
very unlike him but they had the fear of the
black coming and burning down houses because
that was what he was told. But to know that
that is such an important place in history
and civil rights movement and to this day
is not recognized. So did I know of any of
that, ya I would like to go back one day and
erect something to commemorate that is where
the history is. David and I went home when
I turned 40 on June 26 David and I go home
and there was a killing. He was on trail for
killing a copo worker at home. That trail
was going on right, during on my last visit
my 40th birthday and they convict him of killing
those civil rights workers and here David
and I are in a town or in the county where
I was born and David in his hometown and flags
were flying, the rebel flags and we were just
sitting there saying Oh my God these people
are in mourning they just convicted a murder
so what an impact and DavidÕs mom in 86 years
old and it was very interesting the dialog
that went with that and someday I will write
about it and I will never implicate her or
anything like that but I unlike David with
a God fearing woman who raised him to be a
wonderful human being and I had to hear the
truth about how people feel and I sit back
and think thatÕs why it takes so long to
get anything done because people feel this
way. A quote she made to me you forced me
to say it the white race is superior and I
never felt so bad to look at David and he
knows thatÕs not true and thatÕs just this
summer so its there.
