The Dalai Lama,who is the spiritual leader of Tibet, visited Birmingham Alabama on Saturday, touring the church where four African-American girls were killed in a 1963 bombing that spurred the civil rights movement. He met with the Mayor of Birmingham in the 16th Street Baptist Church, which is a famous site where civil rights leaders launched rallies for freedom of African Americans in the 1960s. The Dalai Lama talked spoke on a number of subjects, one of them being how income equality is a threat to peace. He stated, "that due to the economic situation, there is frustration. Frustration brings anger. Then anger brings violence."
In the spring of 1963, activists in Birmingham, Alabama launched one of the most influential campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement: Project C, better known as The Birmingham Campaign.
Over the next couple months, the peaceful demonstrations would be met with violent attacks using high-pressure fire hoses and police dogs on men, women and children alike -- producing some of the most iconic and troubling images of the Civil Rights Movement. President John F. Kennedy would later say, "The events in Birmingham... have so increased the cries for equality that no city or state or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them." It is considered one of the major turning points in the Civil Rights Movement and the "beginning of the end" of a centuries-long struggle for freedom.
- In both scenarios there is speaking out of injustices, may they be from color or economical status: they are clearly stating the ill-manner that is influenced by them.
http://news.yahoo.com/dalai-lama-visits-alabama-church-center-civil-rights-030421083.html
I find this extremely relevant to me, having two parents that grew up in the 50s and 60s in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama and family currently still residing there today; these two cities were (and still are) the centers of one of the greatest conflicts in our world: racism. My mother was acquainted with one of the little girls killed in the 16th Baptist Street Church and often recalls that the day those little girls were killed was a reminder to not just her, but all of the children in Alabama that the power of racism could reach as far and wide as to their small lives. My parents have frightening memories of KKK members riding around and it has never left them, even as middle-aged adults. As someone who visits B-ham often now as a young teenager, I can admit to you that a lot has obviously changed, yet I hear the N word daily when I am over there. Alabama is a loving state, but there is still existing anger among the older whites and blacks. It's not much anger, but you can still feel it. -Elizabeth Muscari 6th
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