In 1964, a few young blacks decided to take a dip in a whites-only pool at a whites-only hotel in St. Augustine, Florida. The hotel's owner, James Brock, reacted by emptying jugs of hydrochloric acid into the water to expel the unwanted swimmers.
This act of civil disobedience was one among many in the small city on the northeast coast of Florida, which in 1964 was celebrating its 400th anniversary. Because of that anniversary, the national spotlight was already on America's oldest settlement, and the leaders of the civil rights movement took advantage of that attention to bring some to their own cause.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself tried to eat at the Monson Motor Lodge, and Mr. Brock pleaded with him to take his business elsewhere. And for more than 40 years, James Brock refused to talk with reporters about the acid incident or his encounter with Dr. King.
Jeremy Dean, a young filmmaker who lived in St. Augustine for six years, was the first. In his debut feature-length documentary, Dare Not Walk Alone, Dean interviews James Brock as well as former activists from the era to raise awareness of that pivotal moment in American history. But he also goes a step further: Dean connects the historical fight for equality to the present, proving that while the movement did great things and propelled society forward, the work is far from over. While blacks are free to eat (and swim) wherever they choose in St. Augustine today, the ongoing disparity in wealth and opportunity indicates a broken system, and it's not merely about race.
As one of the film's primary subjects, former activist and current city commissioner of St. Augustine, Errol Jones, puts it: "It's not an African American problem, it's an American problem. And it's not an African American struggle, it's an American struggle. And we have to address it all as Americans."
Dean masterfully weaves the narrative of St. Augustine's troubled past together with the tales of a few individuals, giving a human face to the injustices that still plague not only that city but many, many more American cities to this day.
Dare Not Walk Alone, which took five years to complete, has been shown at 30 film festivals and colleges across the country, and it is available on Netflix.
This story was borrowed from: The Awareness Blog
RN--Such an incident happened in Tallahassee as well, at a "whites only" swimming pool in the 60s. When the incident took place, the city closed down ALL the pools during that summer in an effort to keep black children from swimming in the white folks' waters. The incident is well-documented. If you want more information, inquire at the Riley House Museum in Tallahassee. The Tally Democrat was filled with articles specific to this incident. I was living in Tallahassee at the time, and I remember very specifically the outcry from black residents and the outrage from white residents who didn't want the pristing waters of their swimming pools "dirtied" with the bodies of black children. Such incidents were common across Florida, and Tallahassee was not immune to such racist behavior.
ReplyDeleteCorrection on my ^^ post:
ReplyDelete"...pristine waters"
6:37,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that interesting historical footnote.
Never Forget & Never again!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIts not a racist thing....Its the hair products...yt doesnt want to swim in that stuff.
ReplyDelete