The Bilerico Project

False Apologies

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0500

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Yesterday Joe Wilson did not fail to entertain again. He emitted several apologies that really weren't. In one interview he claims the GOP leadership told him to apologize, it wasn't something that came from his heart. Now he claims he is sorry but wants people to send him money.

His false apology was never in response for being wrong. He wrongfully claims that the health care bill offers insurance to illegal immigrants when in fact it has a section devoted to denying health care insurance to illegal immigrants. So if you read his apologies, he only apologies for his behavior and not about being out of touch, willfully ignorant and plain-assed wrong.

So in that spirit, I give you today's strip!

P.S. No one really complained.

The Wingnut View Of Reality

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:30:00 -0500

click to enlarge Sometimes you have to wonder about Republicans, especially those elected. I know some Republican citizens who work for a living and they have their heads on straight, but these ass clowns in Congress make me scratch my head.

The follow-up to the President's speech evolved into this "socialist rally" as Obama "marched us to Hell."

Mormon Mysteries #549

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500

click to enlarge The crazy sex issues of the Mormon church, such as the polygamy and the back lash against gays, are just a couple of things that make Mormonism so odd. And don't get me started on their "special" underwear.

I guess this is a bad time to admit I am a big fan of HBO's Big Love?

How the Palin 2012 Campaign Will Look

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500

click to enlarge As with most of you, I sat in shock watching the train wreck yesterday. Sarah Palin stood on her lawn and resigned as Governor of Alaska. As hard as I tried, I looked deeply into the background behind Palin and failed to see Russia, but I digress. I am one of those who thinks Palin is going to run for President. She mentioned how she wanted to change things form the outside... and I think that means the outside of Alaska and inside DC.

This strip pretty much sums up my thoughts on the issue.

The Future of Iran Won't Include an Azure Curtain

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:30:00 -0500

Somewhere in Iran, there are terabytes of data - unseen photos, unwatched videos and unread words that have captured events that have yet to be seen by those of us in the "West."

The Ahmadinejad regime has struggled to tamp out communication among the Iranian people, now keeping it to a very slow drip. Hardly anything comes out from Iran these days, unlike the deluge that we have seen in the past. Keep in mind, Iran is the biggest blogging nation in the world outside of the United States. The culture there, with a majority of the population being young, is a wired culture. Hell, we are a wired planet, so why should Iran be any different?

Continue reading "The Future of Iran Won't Include an Azure Curtain"...

Tracking Mark Sanford

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:30:00 -0500

click to enlarge After today's presser, I think the strip stands clearly on its own feet - ok, that was a bad pun!

Today's strip is dedicated to Darrin Bell, creator of Candorville for teaching me the proper use of "dios mio."

An Example of Left Wing Violence

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:30:00 -0500

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I find it laughable when the likes of Rush Limbaugh and other neo-con side-shows claim von Brunn was a leftist. They further their train of thought to claim this was left wing violence.

In today's strip... let's just say it was a recent real life scene from a Berkeley restaurant.

The Ascension of Weather Reporting

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:00:00 -0500

click to enlarge When Iowa takes the lead in civil rights in the 21st Century, when New England (the spot in America where that Revolution thing started) becomes the hotbed of Gay marriage, when states approve of Gay marriage and it doesn't make the news, America may have turned the corner.

The hard core of right wingnuts seem to be all that is left of what was called the so-called Moral Majority. We are far away from equality from all, but we are closer to that goal than we are to the days of Stonewall.

It has been five years since Massachusetts approved Gay marriage and Hell still has not frozen over. Go figure.

Father and Son go Teabagging

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:30:59 -0500

click to enlarge My day job is in advertising - coming up with new ideas to promote brands and save businesses. From a marketing communication POV, the whole teabagging meme from the GOP is a laughing stock of guilty pleasures. For those of you who have a cleaner life than mine, teabagging is urban slang to describe "To have a man insert his scrotum into another person's mouth in the fashion of a teabag into a mug with an up/down (in/out) motion."

Maybe more of you do know about this than I imagine. After eight years of Bush, I too feel like I have had a mouth full of musty balls. Although thoughts of Cheney moaning "wreck it" sends me running to hug some porcelain.

Back to the misguided meme. The Libertarians had a decent idea to protest taxes - tea, protest signs and genuine outrage. Then the GOP caught wind of the idea and took it right off the ship and into the deep murky waters if idiocy. "Let's call it teabagging!" With whatever "brand movement" the Libertarians had generated with their protest idea was ruined overnight by the GOP, who only wants to lift taxes for the rich, no one else. Let's all write on the chalkboard, Bart Simpson style, "Obama signed the largest middle class tax cut in history." Yeah, do that several hundred times.

Then the true wingnut freaks were pushed over the edge by the Glen Beck's on-air crying, Oral Roberts style. I kept expecting Glen to whimper, "Father I have sinned against you." Maybe Glen has that nutsack taste in his mouth also? Once the winguts got involved, it all went to total hell. You have protesters with signs ranging from "The ONE was born in Africa" to "Hitler gave good speeches too!" and other assorted, full-throttled nonsense.

I have always said freedom of speech is a two-way street. Yes you can say anything you want, it will also let everyone around you know if you are an ass or not.

The GOP is showing you an example of who they really are (again) - miserable at coming up with ideas and miserable at giving a shit about the middle class. Remember what they are protesting today - "Obama signed the largest middle class tax cut in history."

When the Midwest Goes Gay...

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:30:00 -0500

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The whole change thing is becoming unsettling. First Iowa voted for a Black guy with the middle name Hussein to become President of these United States and now gay marriage is the law of the land in Iowa.

And Vermont...

I am stunned, slack-jawed and left scratching my head. Oh, and I am speechless.

Not a lot to say other than Iowa and Vermont have just sided on the side of equal rights and approved gay marriage. If Iowa can legalize gay marriage it should be no surprise that Vermont followed suit. Other states will follow and we will be left counting the states who DO NOT honor gay marriages as the oddity instead of the other way around.

Questions Congress Should Have Asked AIG CEO Edward Liddy

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:35:18 -0500

click to enlarge My rage from the AIG pompousness has boiled away enough to type. Congress, however, still has me all a temper.

Yes there were some tough questions and accusations thrown at AIG but they were all formulated for the best play during their next campaign, not getting to the bottom of the debacle.

First of all, I want to know what we need to do to start getting rid of these guys. The severance question is still an unknown. I am pretty sure all these guys have massive golden parachutes that are outlined in bullet-proof executive compensation contracts. I am also pretty sure these severance packages will all run into the millions... just like the bonuses.

I bet the Republicans are glad the AIG meme is moving off the table this week, this will allow them to get back to their tax cut theology.

Black History: The March On Washington

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:30:00 -0500

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From Wikipedia:

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony at the Lincoln Memorial during the march.

The march was organized by a group of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations, under the theme "jobs, justice, and peace." Estimates of the number of participants varied from 200,000 (police) to over 300,000 (leaders of the march). About 80% of the marchers were African American and 20% white and other ethnic groups.

The march is widely credited as helping lead to the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the National Voting Rights Act (1965).

The march was initiated by A. Philip Randolph (international president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, president of the Negro American Labor Council, and vice president of the AFL-CIO), who had planned a similar march in 1941. The threat of the earlier march had convinced President Roosevelt to establish the Committee on Fair Employment Practice and bar discriminatory hiring in the defense industry.

The 1963 march was organized by Randolph, James Farmer (president of the Congress of Racial Equality), John Lewis (president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), Martin Luther King, Jr. (president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Roy Wilkins (president of the NAACP), and Whitney Young (president of the National Urban League). Bayard Rustin, a civil rights veteran and organizer of the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, the first of the Freedom Rides to test the Supreme Court ruling that banned racial discrimination in interstate travel, administered the details of the march.

The march was not universally supported among African-Americans. Some civil rights activists were concerned that it might turn violent, which could undermine pending legislation and damage the international image of the movement and they were self conscious. The march was condemned by Malcolm X, spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, who termed it the "farce on Washington".

March organizers themselves disagreed over the purpose of the march. The NAACP and Urban League saw it as a gesture of support for a civil rights bill that had been introduced by the Kennedy Administration. Randolph, King, and the SCLC saw it as a way of raising both civil rights and economic issues to national attention beyond the Kennedy bill. SNCC and CORE saw it as a way of challenging and condemning the Kennedy administration's inaction and lack of support for civil rights for African-Americans.

The speakers included all six civil-rights leaders of the so called, "Big Six (civil rights)"; Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish religious leaders; and labor leader Walter Reuther. The one female speaker was Josephine Baker. James Farmer, who was imprisoned in Louisiana at the time, had his speech read by Floyd McKissick

Media attention gave the march national exposure, carrying the organizers' speeches and offering their own commentary. In his section The March on Washington and Television News, William Thomas notes: "Over five hundred cameramen, technicians, and correspondents from the major networks were set to cover the event. More cameras would be set up than had filmed the last Presidential inauguration. One camera was positioned high in the Washington Monument, to give dramatic vistas of the marchers".

On August 28, more than 2,000 buses, 21 special trains, 10 chartered airliners, and uncounted cars converged on Washington. The regularly scheduled planes, trains, and buses were also filled to capacity.

The march failed to start on time, because its leaders were meeting with members of Congress. To the leaders' surprise, the assembled group began to march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial without them.

Representatives from each of the sponsoring organizations addressed the crowd from the podium. Floyd McKissick read James Farmer's speech because Farmer had been arrested during a protest in Louisiana; Farmer had written that the protests would not stop "until the dogs stop biting us in the South and rats stop biting us in the North."

Musician Bob Dylan performed several songs, including "Only a Pawn in Their Game," about the culturally-fed racial hatred amongst Southern whites that led to the assassination of Medgar Evers; and "When the Ship Comes In," during which he was joined by fellow folk singer Joan Baez.

King gave his famous I Have a Dream speech, which was carried live by TV stations.

Although one of the officially stated purposes of the march was to support the civil rights bill introduced by the Kennedy Administration, several of the speakers criticized the proposed law as insufficient.
John Lewis of SNCC was the youngest speaker at the event. His speech--which a number of SNCC activists had helped write--took the Administration to task for how little it had done to protect southern blacks and civil rights workers under attack in the Deep South. While he toned down his comments under pressure from others in the movement, his words still stung:

We march today for jobs and freedom, but we have nothing to be proud of, for hundreds and thousands of our brothers are not here--for they have no money for their transportation, for they are receiving starvation wages...or no wages at all. ...
We come here today with a great sense of misgiving. It is true that we support the administration's Civil Rights Bill. We support it with great reservation, however. ... Unless title three is put in this bill, there's nothing to protect the young children and old women who must face police dogs and fire hoses in the South while they engage in peaceful demonstration. In its present form this bill will not protect the citizens of Danville, Virginia, who must live in constant fear of a police state. ... As it stands now, the voting section of this bill will not help the thousands of people who want to vote. ... We must have legislation that will protect the Mississippi sharecroppers, who have been forced to leave their homes because they dared to exercise their right to register to vote.

We need a bill that will provide for the homeless and starving people of this nation. We need a bill that will ensure the equality of a maid who earns five dollars a week in the home of a family whose total income is 100,000 dollars a year. We must have a good FEPC bill.

My friends let us not forget that we are involved in a serious social revolution. By and large, politicians who build their career on immoral compromise and allow themselves an open forum of political, economic and social exploitation dominate American politics. ... what political leader can stand up and say, "My party is a party of principles"? For the party of Kennedy is also the party of Eastland. The party of Javits is also the party of Goldwater. Where is our party? Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary to march on Washington? Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary to march in the streets of Birmingham? Where is the political party that will protect the citizens of Albany, Georgia? ... We must say wake up America, wake up its now 2:00 in the afternoon! For we cannot stop, and we will not and cannot be patient.

Cut from his original speech at the insistence of more conservative and pro-Kennedy leaders were phrases such as:

In good conscience, we cannot support wholeheartedly the administration's civil rights bill, for it is too little and too late.
I want to know, which side is the federal government on?

The revolution is a serious one. Mr. Kennedy is trying to take the revolution out of the streets and put it into the courts. Listen, Mr. Kennedy. Listen, Mr. Congressman. Listen, fellow citizens. The black masses are on the march for jobs and freedom, and we must say to the politicians that there won't be a "cooling-off" period.

We will march through the South, through the heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did. We shall pursue our own scorched earth policy and burn Jim Crow to the ground--nonviolently...

Many activists from SNCC, CORE, and even SCLC were angry at what they considered censorship of his speech.

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What to do with your Citigroup Stock

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:09:00 -0500

click to enlarge A friend of mine was recently discussing what you can do with Citigroup stock since it is priced a tad over a dollar. Well... not much it seems.

It isn't too far of a stretch to imagine the stock getting delisted soon due to being priced under a dollar a share.

I think it is a market declaration of how worthless Citigroup and its kin truly are. Yes, most stock prices have dropped horribly in price over the months, but one thing the Bush Depression has given us, is a clear view of what is valuable and what is not. Apple and Google are still priced well over $1 per share. Clearly companies that structured their business models around neo-con fantasies aren't even worth the price of a movie ticket.

Bobby Jindal - Science Fail

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:00:00 -0500

click to enlarge Bobby Jindal, the GOP governor of Louisiana delivered the Republican response for Obama's Joint Session of Congress speech. You know it didn't go well when Fox talking heads calls it lackluster. You are certain it sucked bad when folks over at Little Green Footballs, Free Republic and Red State think he made "Palin look smart," "guarantees 8 years of Obama" and "anti-science."

Yeah, Republicans complaining about a candidate being too anti-science. I was shocked too.

But Jindal actually called out volcano monitoring as wasteful, pork barrel spending. The first thought that entered my tree-hugging liberal mind was "there goes his support in the American West."

According to the US Geological Survey Circular, the US states that have active or possibly active volcanoes are New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. Wyoming is an especially troubling issue since it has Yellowstone - one of the largest volcanoes in the world. 640,000 years ago, Yellowstone erupted and it ejected 240 CUBIC MILES of rock and dust into the sky.

In late 2008 and early 2009 Yellowstone experienced quake swarms - one swarm had over 500 earthquakes in a seven day period.

If Yellowstone goes, most of the midwest would be unlivable and the effects would be felt globally. Mass famine and death would result.

Maybe Jindal is right, we don't need to monitor anything that dangerous. Just like we ignore hurricanes. What's the worst that could happen?

Black History: The Freedom Rides

storm@bilerico.com (Storm Bear) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:40:00 -0500

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From Wikipedia:

Civil Rights activists called Freedom Riders rode in interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the United States Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia, (1960). The first Freedom Ride left Washington D.C. on May 4, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17. The significance of Boynton v. Virginia was the outlawing of racial segregation on interstate public transportation. The Freedom Rides consisted of African Americans and whites together riding various forms of public transportation in the South to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation. The Freedom Rides, and the violent reactions they provoked, bolstered the credibility of the American Civil Rights Movement and called national attention to the violent disregard for law that was used to enforce segregation in the southern United States. Riders were arrested for trespassing, unlawful assembly, and violating state and local Jim Crow laws, along with other alleged offenses.

Most of the subsequent rides were sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) while others belonged to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced Snick). The Freedom Rides followed on the heels of dramatic "sit-ins" against segregated lunch counters conducted by students and youth throughout the South, and boycotts beginning in 1960.

The United States Supreme Court's decision in Boynton v. Virginia granted travelers the legal right to disregard local segregation ordinances regarding interstate transportation facilities. But the Freedom Riders' rights were not enforced and were considered criminal acts throughout most of the South. For example, upon the Riders' arrival in Mississippi, their journey ended with imprisonment for exercising their legal rights in interstate travel, and similar arrests took place in other southern cities. Freedom Riders knew that they faced arrest by authorities determined to stop their protests and possible mob violence and before starting they committed themselves to a strategy of non-violent resistance.

The Freedom Riders faced much resistance against their cause, but ultimately received strong support from people both inside and outside the South for their efforts.

The Freedom Riders were inspired by the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, led by civil rights activists Bayard Rustin and George Houser. Like the Freedom Rides of 1961, the Journey of Reconciliation was intended to test an earlier Supreme Court ruling that banned racial discrimination in interstate travel. Rustin and a few of the other riders, chiefly members of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), were arrested and sentenced to serve on a chain gang in North Carolina for violating local Jim Crow laws regarding segregated seating on public transportation.

The first Freedom Ride began on May 4, 1961. Led by CORE Director James Farmer, 13 riders (seven black, six white) left Washington DC on Greyhound and Trailways buses. Their plan was to ride through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, ending with a rally in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most of the Riders were from CORE, and two were from SNCC. Many were in their 40s and 50s.

Only minor trouble was encountered in Virginia and North Carolina, but John Lewis was attacked in Rock Hill, and some of the Riders were arrested in Charlotte NC and Winnsboro SC.

In Anniston, Alabama, a mob attacked the Greyhound bus and slashed its tires. When the crippled bus had to stop several miles outside of town, it was firebombed by the mob chasing it in cars. As the bus burned, the mob held the doors shut, intent on burning the riders to death. An exploding fuel tank caused the mob to retreat, allowing the riders to escape the bus. The riders were viciously beaten as they fled the burning bus, and only warning shots fired into the air by highway patrolmen prevented the riders from being lynched.

That night, the hospitalized Freedom Riders, most of whom had been refused care, were kicked out of the hospital at 2 AM because the staff feared the mob outside the hospital. Local civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth organized several cars of blacks who defied the mob to rescue the injured Freedom Riders.

When the Trailways bus reached Birmingham, it too was attacked by a mob of Ku Klux Klan members aided and abetted by the police under the orders of Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor. As the riders exited the bus, they were mercilessly beaten by the mob with baseball bats, iron pipes and bicycle chains. Among the Klansmen attacking the riders was FBI informant Gary Thomas Rowe. White Freedom Riders were particularly singled out for frenzied beatings. Two riders were hospitalized, including white Freedom Rider Jim Peck, who required 52 stitches to close the wounds in his head.

When reports of the bus burning and beatings reached US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, he urged restraint on the part of Freedom Riders and sent an assistant, John Seigenthaler, to Alabama to try to calm the situation.

With all of the original Freedom Riders injured, and the Trailways and Greyhound drivers afraid to drive any bus containing Freedom Riders, it was suggested that the Freedom Rides be discontinued. Most of the original Freedom Riders flew to New Orleans to attend a previously scheduled rally.

Nashville student and SNCC leader Diane Nash felt that if violence were allowed to halt the Freedom Rides, the movement would be set back years. She pushed to find replacements to resume the ride, and on May 17th a new set of riders, students from Nashville, took a bus to Birmingham where they were arrested by Bull Connor and jailed. These students kept their spirits up in jail by singing Freedom Songs. Out of frustration, Connor drove them back up to the Tennessee line and dropped them off, stating "I just couldn't stand their singing." They immediately returned to Birmingham.

The Freedom Riders who had answered SNCC's call from across the Eastern US joined John Lewis and Hank Thomas, the two young SNCC members of the original Ride who had remained in Birmingham. On May 19, they attempted to resume the ride, but terrified by the howling mob surrounding the bus depot, the drivers refused. Harassed and besieged by the KKK mob, the riders waited all night for a bus.

Under intense public pressure from the Kennedy administration, Greyhound was forced to provide a driver and Alabama Governor John Patterson reluctantly promised to protect the bus from KKK mobs and snipers on the road between Birmingham and Montgomery, after direct intervention from Attorney General's office employee Byron White. On the morning of May 20, the Freedom Ride resumed, with the bus carrying the riders travelling toward Montgomery at 90 miles an hour protected by a contingent of the Alabama State Highway Patrol.

However, when they reached the Montgomery city limits, the Highway Patrol abandoned them. At the bus station, a huge white mob was waiting and viciously beat the Freedom Riders with baseball bats and iron pipes. The local police allowed the beatings to go on uninterrupted. Again, white Freedom Riders, branded "nigger-Lovers," were singled out for particularly brutal beatings. Reporters and news photographers were also attacked and their cameras destroyed, but there is a famous picture taken later of Jim Zwerg in the hospital, beaten and bruised. Justice Department official Seigenthaler was beaten and left unconscious lying in the street. Ambulances refused to take the wounded to the hospital. Local blacks rescued them, and a number of the Freedom Riders were hospitalized.

The following night, Sunday May 21st, more than 1200 people packed Reverend Ralph Abernathy's 1st Baptist church to honor the Freedom Riders. Among the speakers were Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and James Farmer. Outside, an enormous mob of more than 3,000 whites attacked blacks and the handful of federal marshals protecting the church from assault and fire bombs. With city and state police making no effort to restore order, President Kennedy threatened to commit federal troops, but Governor Patterson forestalled that by ordering the Alabama National Guard to disperse the mob.

The next day, Monday May 22, more Freedom Riders from CORE and SNCC arrived in Montgomery to continue the rides and replace the wounded riders still in hospital. Behind the scenes, the Kennedy administration arranged a deal with the governors of Alabama and Mississippi. The governors agreed that state police and National Guard would protect the Riders from mob violence (thereby ending embarrassing media coverage of bloody lawlessness), and in return the federal government would not intervene to stop local police from arresting Freedom Riders for violating segregation ordinances when the buses arrived at the depots (even though such arrests violated the Supreme Court's Boynton decision).

On Wednesday morning, May 24, Freedom Riders boarded buses for the journey to Jackson, Mississippi. Surrounded by Highway Patrol and National Guard, the buses arrived in Jackson without incident, and the riders were immediately arrested when they tried to use the "white-only" facilities at the depot. In Montgomery, Freedom Riders including Yale University chaplain William Sloane Coffin, Shuttlesworth, Abernathy, Wyatt Tee Walker, and others were similarly arrested for violating local segregation ordinances.

This established a pattern followed by subsequent Freedom Rides in which they traveled to Jackson, where they were arrested and jailed. The strategy became one of trying to fill the jails. Once the Jackson and Hinds County jails were filled to overflowing, Freedom Riders were transferred to the infamous Parchman Penitentiary ("Parchman Farm"). Their abusive treatment included placement in the Maximum Security Unit (Death Row), issuance of only underwear, no exercise, no mail, and, when Freedom Riders refused to stop singing Freedom Songs, they took away mattresses, sheets and toothbrushes and removed the screens from the windows. When the cell block became filled with mosquitoes, they hosed everyone down with DDT at 2 AM.

Several members from CORE and SNCC joined the Freedom Rides; among them was Stokely Carmichael, who later became the chairman of the SNCC. He was jailed several times while in Mississippi for participating in the freedom rides, with one sentence of 49 days in the Mississippi Parchman Penitentiary. Later he became the leader of the Black Panther Party, which was a sharp contrast from the non-violent campaign held by SNCC and CORE. Stokley Carmichael was diagnosed with colon cancer later on and eventually died. He claimed that the government was behind his death.

Ruby Doris Smith Robinson, a civil rights leader born in Atlanta, was another member from the SNCC who joined the Freedom Rides. She was arrested in Mississippi and after her release remained in the area to work on the voter registration project. In 1967 she died from cancer. Like Stokley Carmichael's death there was talk amongst members of the SNCC that the government was somehow responsible.

James Peck, the editor of CORE's magazine, was the only person to participate in both the Freedom Rides and the Journey of Reconciliation. He rode through Alabama and was subject to a vicious beating from the mobs. He filed for suit against the FBI because they were aware of the violence, and he won. He was a well-respected civil-rights activist and later died of a stroke.

James Farmer, who was CORE's director, launched the Freedom Rides in the south to end segregation on interstate buses. He was subsequently jailed along with the other freedom riders. By the age of 21, Farmer was able to accomplish all that he had hoped regarding desegregation on interstate transportation.

The Kennedys called for a "cooling off period" and condemned the Rides as unpatriotic because they embarrassed the nation on the world stage. Attorney General Robert Kennedy -- the chief law enforcement officer of the land -- was quoted as saying that he "Does not feel that the Department of Justice can side with one group or the other in disputes over Constitutional rights."

Defying the Kennedys, CORE, SNCC, and SCLC rejected any "cooling off period." They formed a Freedom Riders Coordinating Committee to keep the Rides rolling through June, July, August, and September. During those months, more than 60 different Freedom Rides criss-crossed the South, most of them converging on Jackson where every Rider was arrested, more than 300 in total, plus an unknown number of riders arrested in other southern towns. It is estimated that almost 450 riders participated in one or more Freedom Rides. About 75% were male, and the same percentage were under the age of 30, mostly evenly divided between black and white.

During the summer of 1961, Freedom Riders also campaigned against other forms of racial discrimination. They sat together in segregated restaurants, lunch counters and hotels. This was especially effective when it targeted large companies which, fearing boycotts in the North, began to desegregate their businesses.

In mid-June, a group of Freedom Riders were scheduled to end their ride in Tallahassee, Florida, with plans to fly home from the Tallahassee airport. They were provided a police escort to the airport from the city's bus facilities. At the airport, they decided to eat at a restaurant that was signed "For Whites Only". The owners decided to close, rather than serve the Freedom Riders. Although the restaurant was privately owned, it was leased from the county government. Canceling their plane reservations, the Riders decided to wait until the restaurant re-opened so they could be served. They waited until 11:00 pm that night, and returned the following day. During this time, hostile crowds gathered, threatening violence. On June 16th, 1961, the Freedom Riders were arrested in Tallahassee for unlawful assembly. That arrest became known as Dresner v. City of Tallahassee, which made its way to the US Supreme Court in 1963, in which a hearing was refused, based on technical reasons.

Eventually, bowing to public opinion, the Kennedy administration got the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to issue yet another desegregation order. The ICC was reluctant, but in September 1961 it issued the necessary orders, and the new policies went into effect on November 1, 1961. After the new ICC rule took effect, passengers were permitted to sit wherever they pleased on interstate buses and trains, "white" and "colored" signs came down in the terminals, separate drinking fountains, toilets, and waiting rooms were consolidated, and the lunch counters began serving people regardless of race.

The Freedom Rides established great credibility with blacks and whites throughout the United States who became motivated to engage in direct action for civil rights. Perhaps most significantly, Freedom Riders, facing such danger on their behalf, impressed blacks living in rural areas throughout the South who later formed the backbone of the civil rights movement. This credibility inspired many subsequent civil rights campaigns, including voter registration, freedom schools, and the black power movement.

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