Freedom on My Mind

Activists look back on the Mississippi voter registration drive from 1961- 64. It's a documentary. It's the story of a revolution. For 2020, there is new resonance. The world has changed but much has not. While some in the black and white footage are saying words that civil society does not today, so much of this looks very similar to what's happening right now. The world has come a long way but in some ways, there is so much further to go.

I'm not going to pull any punches here: this documentary, made when I was in my early 30s, about the Mississippi voter rights demonstrations has always been difficult for me to watch. (And I'm white and grew up in the South, so I can only imagine the difficulty it presents to the BIPOC communities.) The sheer brutality of the raw violence and the unrelenting psychological terrorism wrought by segregation and racism in the late '50s and early '60s never ceases to bring tears to my eyes, as it has for at least 50 years since I was a small child. But the most disturbing aspect of the film is how much systemic inequality remains, with many similar arguments still being spouted by the ignorant and frightened. Voting rights are *still* under attack in what were the "Dixiecrat" dominated states, like Georgia and Texas, now GOP dominated. The "Black Lives Matter" movement and its most fierce detractors (All Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, etc.) directly echo the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s and it's staunch opponents. As with "hate crimes legislation," the notion that respecting and protecting certain groups of people who have been historically and typically targeted or are especially vulnerable to oppression is in some way granting them "special rights" over and above the majority of people is highly insulting and positively ludicrous. It's 2021, 55-60 years later, yet we're arguing with those same people and trying to fight the same battles. That's why the story, the footage, and the 1st-hand testimony of the people involved are still able to move me to tears. 9/10.

So many documentaries are stiff and academic or so obviously manipulative... this is none of those things. It is so HUMAN, so REAL... and is such a powerful story of a fundamentally important period in the history of the USA, every bit as important as the Boston Tea Party or the "shot heard 'round the world" or that moment when "our flag was still there." These are perfectly ordinary people doing absolutely extraordinary things. Particular kudos to those in charge of research, who put together the archival footage - it absolutely immerses you in the time. As a Southerner, I heard things I still hear today... but I also was so inspired by the hard work and tenaciousness of the people who lead this movement - and the people who lead this movement were so imperfect, it makes it all the more glorious. Geesh but I loved this documentary!

I am a white Southerner. I have always considered myself Southern. I was born in a small Southern town in North Florida called Live Oak. I grew up in a small Southern town in Central Florida called Ocoee where the history of that town has a lot in common with what is stated in this documentary on the suppression of non-white voting dating to the 1920 massacre. Today that small Southern town, which before the 1920s was diverse in race, after the massacre that happened there, Ocoee remained all-white for 40 years.

When I hear about the horrible things that happened in this documentary, I know it's true. Even when I grew up in Ocoee in the 1980s, and I saw my elementary school only having two black teachers (both female, one Kindergarten the other 3rd grade, both I had as teachers) and one single black student (also female) and the racism by staff and students they endured was awful. And those of us who were white and stood up against it were treated no different than they were. They called us "N-- lovers" or just saw us as being black too and hiding in white skin. By Junior High (Middle School) our school was mainly white until a dilapidating mainly black school the next town over was combined into our school. And in 6th grade we had a "race riot". White children fighting and beating up black students and black students defending themselves and those of us in the middle beat up by the whites who believed we were no different than the blacks and the blacks fighting us because they didn't know we weren't racist against them, that was in 1988/1989. High School was more calmer in retrospect because Ocoee didn't have a High School at the time and we all mainly went to the High School in Winter Garden, FL which was highly diverse but while there there were incidences, it wasn't as bad as going to school in Ocoee.

I hear from some family members, or from others throughout my life that white people have it bad because non-white people have a voice now and they are taking away all their rights. None of their rights are being taken away except those that take away the rights of other people.

Documentaries like this remind me of a few things: non-whites, and especially black people, and especially in the Southern United States, are still to this day struggling against oppression. They just want equality. To be treated no better and no different than anyone else. It also reminds me of my childhood, which wasn't that long ago. I'm only 39. Which means it still goes on today. Ocoee has grown, it's gone from 7,000 people, mainly white to almost 50,000 people still mainly white but with a growing black community. The town I live in now, my hometown, I don't know...I still hear white people using racial epithets as if it's normal to do so. Ironically, the town itself is mainly non-white yet whites still control almost everything. There was an incident not too long ago at a hotel dwelling with racism against black people. Also, nothing will change until white people--and me being white I think I can say this--start recognizing they are not superior to other people not their skin color. No one is trying to take away your rights. They just want the same rights as you, and for the most part: they don't.

Documentaries like this are important. Sadly, they don't get watched by those who actually need to watch it.

"Freedom on My Mind" is a documentary about the efforts in the early to mid 1960s to get the state of Mississippi to move into the modern age. Up until then, the state deliberately did all it could to prevent black people from registering to vote...either by intimidation or violence. The story starts in 1961 and continues up through the DNC convention in 1964 when it tried (rightfully so) to seat its own delegates instead of the ones imposed on blacks in Mississippi.

If you watch this expertly crafted and very compelling film, please watch the credits to see where many of the interviewees are today. I was so proud to see that one of the black people who had been molested later went on to become a professor...and it made me tear up a bit. Well worth seeing and a great history lesson. It's a shame, however, that most Americans today don't even realize all this happened...and I taught US history, so I know that we have so quickly forgotten our past.