Birmingham Marches 

My name is Walter Gadsden, I’m a 17 year old black student, and I live in Birmingham or should I say “Bombingham” Alabama. Over the last 17 years there have been fifty unsolved bombings directed at blacks. All of the police in Birmingham are white and have no sympathy for blacks. The cities’ Public Safety Officer, Bull Connor, is a radical man who hates blacks and uses excessive force to respond to the new outbreak of civil right protests. While on my way to school I’ve seen the police using high pressured water hoses and attack dogs to contain peaceful protestors and then arrest them. I’m sick of having slurs thrown at me walking through town, I’m tired of not being able to go into most establishments, and I just want to be able to get a job without any trouble. Over the past few weeks and countless marches by the SCLC and civil right supporters, many adults who have participated have been arrested. To keep families in the community together the SCLC asked students and kids to volunteer to participate in the protests. When I heard about this opportunity I immediately knew that I wanted to help. I want to make a difference and I want equality, just like all of the other marchers.

         The first class for the volunteers was about two weeks ago. At the class, Martin Luther King Jr., who has just been arrested, spoke to us about our future, taught us how to protest peacefully, and told us no matter what unfolds we must never use violence. After the class we were told that the day of our march was going to be April 15^th . On that day we were supposed to listen to a certain black radio station and wait for the secret code, “get your toothbrush and go downtown,” before we started the march. Sure all of us were scared and we didn’t know if our march would even have an effect, because the police have quickly broken up and suppressed all of the other attempted protests. The only things we could do were hope and pray that we would be safe.

 
           Today is Monday April 15th, 1963 and earlier today we completed our march. I was eating lunch when somebody told me they had heard the code. Though the protest was supposed to be secret, when we got the center of town, we were greeted by a wall of police. We were nervous, but continued to sing our church songs and stayed united. The police told us to cease and desist, but we knew our 1^st Amendment right, the right to assemble. After we didn’t leave, the police began using their high pressured hoses, releasing their dogs, and beating protestors to the ground. We stayed peaceful throughout the march, even when the police began arresting us. But there were too many protestors and they could collect us all. The jails were full and some of us were able to get away in the confusion. After thinking about the protest, I just know we are going to gain support for our cause from the images and videos taken of the brutality towards passive protestors.

Work Cited 

"Birmingham Campaign (1963)." Birmingham Campaign (1963). Web. 30 May 2012. <http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_birmingham_campaign/>.

Web. 30 May 2012. <http://wiki-images.enotes.com/thumb/9/9f/Birmingham_campaign_water_hoses.jpg/250px-Birmingham_campaign_water_hoses.jpg>.

Web. 30 May 2012. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/74/Birmingham_campaign_dogs.jpg/300px-Birmingham_campaign_dogs.jpg>.

Web. 30 May 2012.<http://www.kidsforking.org/teachers/grades-9th-12th/a-brief-history-of-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/birmingham-campaign-1963-grades-9-12/>