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“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

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“Take down the pictures of white women from your walls. Elevate your own women to the place of honor. They are, for the most part, the burden bearers of the race.”

-Marcus Mosiah Garvey-

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“Asking for a friend” by Cedric Smith

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“I’m not anti-social; I’m pro-solitude.”

— Beth Buelow

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“I don’t want white folks to win nothin’. …‘Cause they don’t give a nigga a break. You know what I mean? Jackson 5 be singing they ass off, they be talkin’ ‘bout the Osmond Brothers. Motherfuck a Osmond Brother!” – Richard Pryor

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“One of the most amazing things that can happen is finding someone who sees everything you are and won’t let you be anything less. They see the potential in you. They see endless possibilities. And through their eyes, you start to see yourself the same way. As someone who matters. As someone who can make a difference in this world.”

— Unknown

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I don't think I took one breath while watching this video.

Interview with Jimmy Webb as an aging man:

UV: So in this confrontation, the group that you were with, you guys were trying to go to the courthouse and were stopped by the sheriff. What was going through your mind at the time because you were asking some very deep questions. Did you think you were going to be arrested?

Webb: Well, by the time it had gotten to that confrontation — I DECIDED THAT I WAS GOING TO DIE — because I was sure some sheriff, some Klansman were going to kill me. I lost all fear of death. Once you lose the fear of death, EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE. There's nothing impossible if you're not afraid to die for a cause. My only concern was those kids who were with me whether or not they were that committed.

So when I got to the conversation with the sheriff, one of the principles of nonviolence, and people have to understand that we were not fighting against people, we were fighting against a system that enslaved all of us. When black people were free, white people were free also.

The 2nd principle of nonviolence is that we seek to create friends out of our enemies rather than destroy our enemies. We're not interested in destroying people, we were interested in getting them on the other side of the line with us.

UV: Wow. So you were willing to die for the cause, which is something that I feel very few people today are doing. Obviously, this is a different time.

Webb: But you see we also had training and philosophical discussions about what all of this meant. Rev. James Lawson, who was really the architect of the non-violent movement of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), taught us how to participate in social action movement.

The other thing that we learned was how to listen to what your enemy is saying. Sort of like Judo — using the strength of your opponent to defeat them. People asked me all the time about the "quarter idea".

UV: Yep, the famous question.

Webb: I was listening to the sheriff, and the sheriff said in answer to my question "did he believe in equal justice for all", he says "I don't believe in any two things equal — no two peas, no two pieces of money". When he said that, it clicked in my head, cause I was listening to him.

Most people don't listen to other folks. They just be quiet and let the other person finish, so they can say what they want to say. You have to listen to what other people are saying in order to formulate your arguments, and use their own words in order to defeat them.

UV: I was told that the officer in the video (L.C. Crocker) passed away just 2 years ago. Did you know that?

Webb: Yes he's now deceased.

UV: One thing that's interesting, after showing the conversation between you two, the video just cuts off to another scene. What happened after that which we didn't see?

Webb: The officer started to walk away. Very interestingly, he then turns to the crowd as he's talking to me and says, "I don't have enough men to protect you". There's a crowd out there with angry whites, and he started to walk away.

I then started to step on his shoe heels, which forced him to turn around and arrest all of us. It made him mad, but him arresting us probably saved the lives of the kids who were with me.

UV: So you're saying knowing there was a mob outside, you stepped on his heels? Was that instinct because you knew it would save the kids lives?

Webb: I knew that if he walked away with the police officers who were there, the crowd was going to attack all of us.

UV: Wow. How long were you guys arrested for?

Webb: Ah just a couple hours, long enough for processing.

UV: Here's one thing I think people would want to know: In the moment of a large crowd of people getting arrested from a protest, do you guys get released all at once? Do the parents come pick you up one by one?

Webb: All circumstances were different. It depends.

UV: Were you ever able to see that officer again since that conversation?

Webb: No. As a matter of fact, Alvin Benn, who was a reporter from the Montgomery Advertiser, tried to get us together several times, but he refused.

UV: I heard that you are a retired preacher. Is this correct?

Webb: Yes, I am a pastor now.

UV: Where are you currently located?

Webb: In South Georgia at a little town called Quitman, since March.

UV: How long have you been a pastor?

Webb: For more than 50 years.

UV: Earlier you kind of alluded to Black Lives Matter and what they are missing. You mentioned it was non-structured. What differences do you see from the movements in the 60s to Black Lives Matter today? What can BLM do to be more effective?

Webb: First of all, BLM is a student-led movement very much like SNCC. The difference is we in SNCC had older people advising us (such as SCLC). Sometimes we took their advice, sometimes we didn't — but they were available to advise us on how to get done on what we said we wanted to do.

They understood things like "how the system worked" that we did not understand, and therefore we needed something negotiated — the land mines of the system. I do not see that in Black Lives Matter. Our goal was to covert them from the position they were in, to a position of openness. You can not do that if you don't communicate.

UV: So pretty much communicating and having an open dialogue with the people you are targeting, which in today's situation is the police.

Webb: That is correct.

UV: Last question, do you plan on getting involved in activism now, or on a advisory role?

Webb: I'll be an activist until I die.

UV: Any last words for the people today?

Webb: I want to encourage the young people to keep the fight up and to stay on the battlefield, but to organize a little more closely so that they can get the desired results. Sit down and put together your goals, because you don't know if you accomplished something if you don't have a goal.

I want to encourage the young people to keep on keeping on —- and to keep our legacy alive.

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legend 🙌

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Lauryn Hill

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