National

Hundreds In NYC Greet Civil Rights Legend Amelia Boynton Robinson

Published

10 years ago

June 24, 2015

Oakland Post

Amelia Boynton Robinson (center) flanked by Xavier and Annette Eikerenkoetter (Photo by Herb Boyd)

By Herb Boyd
Special to the NNPA

NEW YORK (NNPA) – At 103, Amelia Boynton Robinson may be bound and physically limited by a wheelchair, but her spirit, inspiration and memories are as fresh and rewarding as they were during the height of the Civil Rights Movement when her legend was born. For almost an hour recently at the United Palace House of Inspiration in Washington Heights, Robinson regaled an attentive audience with stories about the brutal experiences she endured when she was among those mercilessly attacked in Selma, Ala. in 1965.

Several members absorbed in her recounting of those days had seen the film “Selma” and how marvelously Lorraine Toussaint had portrayed Robinson, but to hear those moments retold by the woman who had survived the blows and to see actual film footage and stills projected on the screen behind her, the incidents conveyed a more powerful reality.

After the church’s spiritual director Xavier Eikerenkoetter, the son of the famous Rev. Ike, asked her to recall the march on Selma and “Bloody Sunday,” she began telling how she and others were beaten by the state troopers. “As I stepped aside from the troopers club, I felt a blow on my neck and my arm,” she said. “It could have injured me permanently if it had landed on my head. Another blow by a trooper as I was gasping for breath knocked me to the ground and there I lay unconscious.

“One of them shot tear gas over me, but the plastic rain cap saved my life because it had slipped down over my face and protected me from the worse fumes. One of the troopers said, ‘She’s dead.’ And they were told to drag me to the side of the road.” While she recounted the terrible scene, photos of it flashed on the screen as well as stills from the documentary Eyes on the Prize.

In one of them Robinson is seen sprawled on the ground and in the arms of a young man who had come to her rescue. “The cry went out for ambulances to come over the [Edmund Pettus] bridge and pick up the wounded and those thought to be dead, but Sheriff [Jim] Clark dared them to cross the bridge…I’m not going to call any ambulance for anybody! Let the buzzards eat ’em!”

But he finally relented, she said, after he was told that there may be a bloody retaliation and that he might be the first one. “I was told later that I was taken to the church after being given first aid on the way, but when I didn’t respond I was taken to the Good Samaritan Hospital.

“When I regained consciousness I wondered where I was, but then I remembered the voice through the bullhorn, the gas being shot, and then the men with gas masks,” she related.

It took several years for her to fully recover from a beating that almost left her dead. Her once melodious voice was damaged by the gas, a voice that is no less commanding and urgent nowadays. Eikerenkoetter asked her about hatred, Sheriff Clark and why she attended his funeral in 2007.

“First of all, you can can’t be happy and have hate,” she answered. “…I went to Jim Clark’s funeral with two other friends and we were the only Blacks there. I wanted to prove to the people that I have no malice.” It was her religious background that informed her that Clark was one of God’s children and was not responsible for the hate in his heart.

“God’s love is the answer,” she repeated several times before demanding that all the young people over 18 to register and vote, something to which she had devoted much of her remarkable life. “A vote less people is a hopeless people,” she stated.

Eikerenkoetter and his associates, including a stage full of talented musicians, as they had done from the beginning of the ceremony, celebrated her with song. There were also proclamations from several political leaders, including one from Mayor Bill de Blasio cited Robinson’s tireless efforts and sacrifices for freedom and equality.

The long line of people invited to the stage to share a moment, a photograph with Robinson was indicative of the love she extended. And her additional blessings are readily available in her autobiography, Bridge Across Jordan, published by the Schiller Institute, a book that Coretta Scott King believed was “an important contribution to the history of the black freedom struggle.”

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Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

Published

19 hours ago

December 20, 2024

Oakland Post

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‘Donald Trump Is Not a God:’ Rep. Bennie Thompson Blasts Trump’s Call to Jail Him

“Donald Trump is not a god,” U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

Published

3 days ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he not intimidated by President-elect Donald Trump, who, during an interview on “Meet the Press,” called for the congressman to be jailed for his role as chairman of the special congressional committee investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Donald Trump is not a god,” Thompson told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

“He can’t prove it, nor has there been any other proof offered, which tells me that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said the 76-year-old lawmaker, who maintained that he and the bipartisan Jan. 6 Select Committee – which referred Trump for criminal prosecution – were exercising their constitutional and legislative duties.

“When someone disagrees with you, that doesn’t make it illegal; that doesn’t even make it wrong,” Thompson said, “The greatness of this country is that everyone can have their own opinion about any subject, and so for an incoming president who disagrees with the work of Congress to say ‘because I disagree, I want them jailed,’ is absolutely unbelievable.”

When asked by The Grio if he is concerned about his physical safety amid continued public ridicule from Trump, whose supporters have already proven to be violent, Thompson said, “I think every member of Congress here has to have some degree of concern, because you just never know.”

This story is based on a report from The Grio.

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Biden’s Legacy Secured with Record-Setting Black Judicial Appointments

His record surpasses previous efforts by his predecessors. President Jimmy Carter appointed 37 Black judges, including seven Black women. In stark contrast, Donald Trump’s first term resulted in only two Black women appointed out of 234 lifetime judicial nominations. The White House said Biden’s efforts show a broader commitment to racial equity and justice.

Published

3 days ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

iStockphoto.

By Stacy M. Brown
WI Senior Writer

President Joe Biden’s commitment to diversifying the federal judiciary has culminated in a historic achievement: appointing 40 Black women to lifetime judgeships, the most of any president in U.S. history.

Biden has appointed 62 Black judges, cementing his presidency as one focused on promoting equity and representation on the federal bench.

The White House said Biden’s efforts show a broader commitment to racial equity and justice.

Meanwhile, Trump has vowed to dismantle key civil rights protections, including the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“Having the Black woman’s experience on the federal bench is extremely important because there is a different kind of voice that can come from the Black female from the bench,” Delores Jones-Brown, professor emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told reporters.

Lena Zwarensteyn of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights told reporters that these district court judges are often the first and sometimes the final arbiters in cases affecting healthcare access, education equity, fair hiring practices, and voting rights.

“Those decisions are often the very final decisions because very few cases actually get heard by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Zwarensteyn explained.

Biden’s nomination of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court further reflects his commitment to judicial diversity. Jackson became the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.

Patrick McNeil, spokesperson for the Leadership Conference, pointed out that over half of Biden’s Black female judicial appointees have backgrounds as civil rights attorneys and public defenders, experience advocates consider essential for a balanced judiciary.

Meanwhile, Congress remains divided over the expansion of federal judgeships. Legislation to add 66 new judgeships—approved unanimously by the Senate in August—stalled in the GOP-controlled House until after the election. House Republicans proposed distributing the new judgeships over the next decade, giving three administrations a say in appointments. President Biden, however, signaled he would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., argued the delay was a strategic move to benefit Trump’s potential return to office. “Donald Trump has made clear that he intends to expand the power of the presidency and giving him 25 new judges to appoint gives him one more tool at his disposal,” Nadler said.