Still work to be done as SNCC marks 50 years

By Brian E. Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Apr 27, 2010 - 4:07:54 PM

RALEIGH, N.C. (FinalCall.com) - Before there was the Black Power movement there were the sit-ins and the effort to fight Jim Crow Laws, discrimination in public accommodation and a high energy campaign against American injustice led by students. The premier organization of young activists involved in direct action protest was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) that began April 15, 1960 here on the campus of Shaw University.

Marion Barry

A four day conference at Shaw commemorated the 50th anniversary of SNCC's founding and brought together many members who lived the movement and in break-out sessions covered the history and legacy of SNCC and the struggle it helped to bring into being. The conference was addressed by the likes of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, activist and singer Harry Belafonte, Congressman John Lewis and activist and actor Danny Glover.

SNCC produced both unsung heroes and well known leaders in the civil rights and Black struggle such as, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael); Congressman Lewis, Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown), Julian Bond and councilman and former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry. Other familiar names include activists and organizers Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Martha Prescod and Charles Cobb, all SNCC legends.

Rep. John Lewis

The level of interest in the monumental occasion was evident by the high turnout of people for the fiftieth milestone. According to participants it was more than what event planners anticipated.

“The tremendous response speaks something to the recognition by students, by teachers and by regular people that what the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee did was significant; they are coming both to learn and to honor and to discuss,” said Emory University law professor and former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver to The Final Call.

The gathering afforded the opportunity to also look back at the work of SNCC and its contributions to the larger fight for freedom, justice, equality and Black Power. In fact the conference included oral history of the movement's tenacity to challenge the status quo of a country that espoused freedom but practiced oppression.

According to conference organizers, historically SNCC was made up of common people who responded to the social realities that plagued America at the time.

However in light of the past history and successes of SNCC versus a current climate of vitriolic hate driven by the right wingers, the continued dismal picture of Black social and economic life, the question was raised—perhaps most profoundly by Harry Belafonte—about the necessity to be active in challenging the injustices facing the world today.

“I listened to a many of wise men and women stand up and speak and say eloquent things, unfortunately most of what they've have to say lingers and dwells on nostalgia and we're having great reflections on what use to be,” the 83-year-old entertainer told the crowd gathered.

“I am saddened at the fact that most of what I've been hearing is on what was and well we did it,” he lamented, adding, “who is talking about what is and how badly we are doing it now?” The singer, who was active in the 1960s, challenged conference goers to find the “moral center” that drove SNCC to accomplish its past work.

Former SNCC chairman and now a 12-term congressman, Georgia Democrat John Lewis encouraged the group not to sit back in the face of the political climate in America.

“You're not too old to fight,” he told the audience. “You're not too old to push and pull.”

Rep. Lewis told to The Final Call that Blacks must stand their ground.

“We must continue to struggle, continue to be prepared to wage a battle against the radical right, against the people who are saying ‘we want our country back,' who are trying to take us back and we must stand our ground and say we're not going back, we're here and we're gonna stay,” Rep. Lewis said.

“America is in a bad place. There's an horrendous war that people have no control over—they can't stop it. And the government pours millions and millions and millions of dollars into this horrid destruction every day. They're ruining the life chances of this generation who's coming here to this event. I think there is some recognition that this country is out of control, and that our lives are not where we would like, so it goes back to that fundamental sense of how do we gain the power to control our own destiny,” Ms. Cleaver argued.

The U.S. attorney general and first Black to serve in that position recognized the role of SNCC incontributing to a day when America elected a Black president and Mr. Holder pledged a strong Justice Dept. commitment to civil rights laws.

“It will take more than the election of the first African-American president to fully secure equality for each American. There is still work to be done, and this Justice Department will be about that work,” Attorney Holder promised.

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