Last day of Montgomery: The struggle continues
Coming into today, I had always wondered how laws for civil rights were passed into law, because other than hearing about the historic marches, there is little said about the legislative aspect of fighting segregation. Once we visited the Southern Poverty Law center in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, I got a lot of my questions answered. Outside the S.P.L.C is an extraordinarily great memorial with the powerful words of Rev. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. along with important dates of the civil rights movement. Aside from what was on the exterior on the building, there were equally important memorials inside.
The film that we viewed inside the S.L.P.C was full of images that I had never seen before in previous documentaries. It explained the various court decisions and some of the litigations that are present in our society today. I was so surprised to see that so many hate groups are still active today. With 4 hate groups within a 30 mile radius of my hometown, it raised my attention to how things really are where and how people really think in my surroundings.
The interesting concept that caught my attention is the connection with the 1996 Olympic bombing and the bomber Eric Rudolph. I had always wondered how he managed to escape and remain hidden for so long. He was later found in a neighboring city (30 miles west) of Asheville, NC, my hometown. His connection to a hate group located in that area gave him the resources to hide for so long. That conspiracy caught me off guard. In my hometown there had been bombings of abortion clinics also linked to Eric Rudolph. One of the beliefs of the alleged hate group found in the area is the opposition to abortion. With so many hate groups functioning silently but effectively is a scary thought for me to think about. It also reinforces the idea that things revolving around hate have not disappeared over the past 40 years of equal rights legislation which is very disappointing.