Letters to Ike in 1954 after Brown v. Board: Anyone hear this on NPR?

[Bertha Venation]

On All Things Considered tonight, actors read several letters sent to President Eisenhower after SCOTUS came down unanimously against segregation in Brown v. Board of Education.

The ignorance, bigotry, and outright hatred of many of those letters just took my breath away.

Visit this page at NPR for links to the letters/audio, to the series NPR did on Brown v. Board, to a gallery of photos. I urge everyone to listen to the letters (link above Ike's picture: "All Things Considered Audio"). Some are glad for the decision, but the ones I remember most are bitterly angry, full of hatred, bigotry, prejudice, ignorance . . . they're just astounding.

[roguevalley]

1. If you were old enough like some of us, you can remember it first hand. :(

[Bertha Venation]

2. Mrs. Venation was two . . .

She does remember when her local school was integrated. Soldiers patrolling the streets . . . . scary times.

[reprehensor]

3. Yup.

Me'n fudge_stripe_cookays were ridin' home when it played. It's hard to believe that such tiny minds could come up with such large hate.

Astounding, I agree.

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. I heard them.

You know what is amazing? I'm sure many of those comments were common talk on the streets of America back in the 50's. Did you notice that the worse of a racist they were, the more they kept repeating that they were "God-fearing Christians"?

My favorite was the family who complained that their black maid, who they "treated well", actually had the audacity to ask for Sundays off.

It was awful, and strangely compelling.

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. I noticed it too.

I noted to reprehensor how similar the racists sounded to the anti-gay, anti-liberals today who are so obsessed with their own Christianity and their self-importance in God's eyes.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[lcooksey]

6. Very powerful

I was lucky enough to catch it on my way home from work. The bigotry was stunning, and the thankful letters were heartrending. Every school in America should play that audio in history class as a reminder of where America has been.

It's also a sign of how far America has come. People against same-sex marriage are very careful not to spout such venomous words (except for nuts like Phelps). There is certainly a lot of bigotry left today, but it is accompanied by a lot less violence than the fight over desegregation was. And for that I'm thankful. I much rather fight bigotry in court than on the street.

[Bertha Venation]

7. a couple of snippets

Later, when I have time, I'm going to transcribe all ten minutes full of letters. Here are just a couple of tidbits I gleaned on my second listen this morning

"You should know how dirty and low-down negros are."

"No seat on a bench is big enough for a nigger and me."

"I am 69 years old and have cataracts. But I still have too much self respect to mix with niggers in public."

:wow: :wtf:

[commander bunnypants]

8. I heard it

almost made me cry

DDQM

[bif]

9. I heardd it too.

Well done segment. You certainly don't hear stuff like that on regular radio.