Sit-Ins

With little, if any, notice this past week, the 50th anniversary of the student sit-in movement arrived. It was, indeed, 50 years ago, that four college students in North Carolina, decided they had had enough. They entered a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a lunch counter and asked to be served. The lunch counter did not serve the four students because they were black. The date was February 1, 1960. It was a social earthquake that these four young black men risked their lives and future that day, but they did, and all is different, in the United States at least partially because of them.

The students sat for two hours that day, and did not get served. The store closed and they departed being sure to report back to their friends and fellow students what they had done. The next day, more than 20 students appeared at the same counter, and the modern civil rights era had begun. The black students had courage and were fearless; history was on their side too.

I recently wrote about the moment in commentary for the Progressive Media Project. The opinion piece has already appeared in several newspapers. It is good to know that the word about this historical event is trickling out. Yet, reading some of the comments one would be disturbed at the attitudes of some of this country's citizens. Here is one comment to my article from a Fredricksburg, Va newspaper:

"This is Black History Month. Why not USA History Month instead? Why do we have the UNCF and Black colleges? Did our current President attend one of these colleges? Why do we have a Black Miss America contest when our current Miss America is a beautiful, talented, and humble black woman? Why do we have the BET? The NAACP? And any number of other racist programs? Why do we keep telling non-whites that they need these programs? That they are not good enough to compete without them? When will it stop? 1 USA?"

There seems to be complete disconnect when reading that response. How is that the person reads about the sit-ins, an incident where human beings want to be treated equally, and they decide it is an opportunity to attack the very idea of diversity? It was, to say the least, a disturbing comment but needless to say, one of many. Another comment stated that the sit-ins were something akin to affirmative action. How can allowing people to sit down, order a meal, and pay for it, be affirmative action?

Ultimately, these comments reflect a failure of the country to not only oppose racism but to promote diversity, and not as a novelty either but as something which is the way of the world. Perhaps, we need mental sit-ins to change the way we think.