Important Person

[Clifford Black]

James Meredith
James Meredith in 1962
Born	June 25, 1933 (age 79) Kosciusko, Mississippi
Education	University of Mississippi; Columbia Law School, LL.B.
Known for	becoming the first black student at the University of Mississippi

[Clifford Black]

Political viewpoint

Meredith is identified as an individual American citizen who demanded and received the constitutional rights held by any American, not as a participant in the U.S. civil rights movement. There have been tensions between him and representatives of the movement. When interviewed in 2002, the 40th anniversary of his enrollment at University of Mississippi, Meredith said, "Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind."^[16][17]

In a 2002 interview with CNN, Meredith said, "I was engaged in a war. I considered myself engaged in a war from Day One. And my objective was to force the federal government—the Kennedy administration at that time—into a position where they would have to use the United States military force to enforce my rights as a citizen."[

[Kimeli Wade]

I was always confused by pictures of the National Guard escorting a 'colored' person somewhere, seemingly for the benefit of that colored person, i.e. James Meredith, the Little Rock 9.  It just didn't make sense.  One would think they would be left to go at their own risk.  Over time I began to wonder if they were they really protecting the individual.

[Clifford Black]

Namaska Kimeli, is it not strange, that there is no discussion about what you are talking about---makes one wonder, how many are faced with this kind of confusion that you are presenting.

B.

[Adisa]

I too was confused by this.  I always thought if so called black people were not welcomed why would the national guard be called in to protect them.  When I was much younger, I always thought the national guard was callled in to prevent their attendance.

Whats is even stranger is so much being said about the good from the civil rights movement yet, James Meredith made it clear that he was not a participat in that movement.  Makes me wonder how many other bold stances taken by others such as Mr. Meredith have been incorrectly labled as part of the civil rights movement.  I like the Divine Right Movement!   

[Clifford Black]

Seeing those few of you who are on the path allows me to know that this is a real journey. Shout out to you who are heading inward.

B.

[Red Diamond]

Well, I was told by several older people in Mississippi that they did NOT want those so called civil rights. Yes, where I am from they loved James Meredith, but they HATED Martin Luther King! When  I asked, them why, the answer was they NEVER wanted to hob knob with the white folks. They already knew how nasty they were. The feeling was they had more and owned more before those times. Stating that they were already excelling in school, but after the merger, they had to show and tell them how to run their schools!!! Anyway, I think it was a camera trick involving the National Guard and persons of color.

 

[Eclectic Educators]

Smoke screens indeed.

[Glorified]

James Meredith has been someone I have looked to as a trail blazer. Being of mixed opinion as I have matured, I respect his courage to endure the harsh treatment of segregation. Regardless of whether he associated himself with the civil rights movement or was insulted by the concept of civil rights, 50 years later the University of Mississippi is still at war with itself. The recent re-election of the president showed the world UofM still has some dirty dirty second-class citizenship perceptions that are hard to go away it seem. " Meredith dismisses the racial epithets used at the protest as meaningless. He said his advice is to ignore it especially when this group is comparatively small to what he's seen." I realize the UofM leadership is not responsible for the behavior of a few, but it is negligent to ask minority students to ignore their safety when UofM and Mississippi is as polarizing as ever. As a native Mississippian, it is disconcerting that the usual covert ideas of entitlement of some of the UofM students, as well as some Mississippians, were too much to handle. Giving critical thinkers like myself an opportunity to say, polarizing behaviors like the one at UofM are at the forefront of a lot of the decisions made by Mississippi leadership when a man of "color" holds the most coveted position in the world. It is great to want a first class education, but at what cause in 2012? Yes, he was important doing the 60's.

 

[Clifford Black]

@Glorified---In his later years, This MAN has been shouting into the wilderness about one thing, and that is, READING.  Sounds like "education is a passport" to FREEDOM. Freedom can only be accomplished thru SELF EDUCATION.

B.