The Modern Martyrs
As we approach an election in the United States where the majority of white people will vote for a candidate, Donald Trump, who is a convicted civil rights violator, a rapist and a business fraud convicted of 34 felonies. I am thankful for the opportunity to stand with people of color and white Americans who have a conscience. I am also very happy to have an opportunity to vote for a woman against a man who bragged openly about sexually assaulting women at will because of his fame. I think it is important to note that people died in recent memory to bring the right to vote to all Americans and that the Republican party and the justices they appointed to the Supreme Court have gutted the Voting Rights Act and will continue to do so unless stopped. Here is a list of martyrs from the Civil Rights Movements of people of different races, but predominantly African Americans who were killed in the name of white supremacy. These deaths occurred between 1955 and 1968. Let them motivate you to help prevent the election of a man who told women of color in congress to "go back where you came from." Let's make an America where that kind of language isn't used openly. Drive the racists back into the closet.
- Rev George Lee, 1955
- Lamar Smith, 1955
- Emmett Till, 1955
- Jihn Earl Reese - 1955
- Willia Edwards, Jr., 1957
- Mack Parker, 1959
- Herbert Lee, 1961
- Roman Duckworth, Jr., 1962
- Paul Guihard, 1962
- William Lewis Moore, 1963
- Medgar Evers, 1963
- Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, 1983
- Virgil Ware, 1963
- Louis Allen, 1963
- Johnnie Mae Chappell, 1964
- Rev. Bruce Klunder, 1964
- Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, 1964
- James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, 1964
- Lemuel Penn, 1964
- Jimmie Lee Jackson, 1965
- Rev. James Reeb, 1965
- Viola Liuzzo, 1965
- Oneal Moore - 1965
- Willie Brewster, 1965
- Jonathan Daaniels, 1965
- Leamon Younge, Jr., 1966
- Vernon Dahmer, 1966
- Ben White, 1966
- Clarence Triggs, 1966
- Wharlest Jackson, 1967
- Benjamn Brown, 1967
- Samuel Ephesians Hammond Jr., Delano Herman Middleton and Henry Ezekial Smith, 1968
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968
Civil Rights Martyrs | Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org)
People died for your right to vote (tennessean.com)
On Aug 13, 1955: The History of Violent Opposition to Black Political Participation (eji.org)
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