From Selma to Charlottesville, the Ghosts of Our Past | Time Magazine | 08.28.2017

Joe Leandri
Aug 26, 2017 · 1 min read

In March 1965, Viola Liuzzo, a housewife and mother of five from Michigan, traveled to Alabama to help Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference march for voting rights.

As soon as she arrived in Selma Alabama, Liuzzo joined the carpool system of driving around civil rights marchers. While she drove a 19-year old black man named Leroy Moton in her car, Liuzzo was ambushed by a car full of Klansman (KKK) and murdered.

Liuzzo was the first white female protester to die in the civil rights movement. When the nation saw the news coverage, it changed the conversation about civil rights and helped speed passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Fast-forward 50 years and another white woman working for freedom and justice, when in August 2017, Heather Heyer was killed at a rally protesting the Klan. Ms. Heyer had repeatedly championed civil rights issues on social media and regularly drew attention to cases of police malpractice and racism.

The parallels are eerie.

Today, are we as a country comprised of better people, standing on higher moral ground, with more compassion and empathy for diversity? Or are we the same 1950–60s hate-filled country hiding behind the guise of the modern phrase “politically correct”?

Ironically, only through the civil right of free speech can we accurately assess the United States’ current status of social interactive behavior.

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Joe Leandri

Written by

Independent Market Research Professional

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