Thus began and ended my brief career as a sitter-in, not because I lost my interest in the mission of the civil rights movement, but because I saw how important it was. So important, it deserved better than what happened to me that day on Route 1. There better ways for me to serve than from a county jail or grave. 

This experience showed me how quickly things can get out of hand when you’re dealing with a person’s emotional investment in a socially accepted tradition.

I also saw now that God would be on my side, but he’d be the only one there. Apparently, I couldn’t count on my fellow activists, the CORE observation team OR the police to protect me from unwarranted harm. No, the rules of the game had changed. 

Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore! 

The campus CORE chapter grew, slowly, but the immediate problem – public accommodations – was soon to be solved by state legislation. Discrimination in rental housing was the next issue, followed by a push to fully integrate colleges and universities in the metro-DC area.  

I continued attending CORE meetings on campus for about 1 ½ years, but didn’t do any more sit-ins. Instead, I wrote op-ed pieces, represented CORE at meetings of other organizations on campus, and kept up on the group’s activities at other schools. In other words, this was my first job in public relations, but I didn’t realize it at the time. 

Don’t misunderstand. I may have been only a teenager, but I wasn’t afraid to die for a good cause. Providing a target for a man who wanted to vent just didn’t seem like a good enough reason to die or even go to jail. 

If I were to build a criminal record, let it be for something important, like guaranteeing someone’s right to medical care or an education.

Hey, if I got killed, I got killed, but let me die protecting someone from a lynching, or making sure he or she was free to exercise the right to vote. 

And that is exactly what my friend Jim Reeb did in Selma, two years later. But, that’s another story.
 


Comments

Darlene

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:32:54

That must have been very frightening. Those were troubled times in our country's history and it exposed the ugly side of discrimination. So many lost their lives. The cause was worthy, but I wouldn't have had the courage to risk my life. You are to be commended.

 

Kathleen Scott

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:50:41

Paula, these three posts were amazing. You chose a Joseph's coat life and we're all the better for it.

 



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