(2009-02-18) PBS Civil Rights

I find TV a terribly inefficient way of communicating Non-Fiction info.

But it can really hit you in the gut.

The Boys are watching the PBS "Eyes on the Prize" series about the Civil Rights movement. (Educational Tv)

Watching interviews of people involved in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the attacks on the marchers-to-Montgomery, and the interviews with the entrenched white folks, is just freaky. For generations, blacks had endured widespread denial of their voting rights in Mississippi, and participation in the state Democratic Party was limited to whites only... The Credentials Committee televised its proceedings, which allowed the nation to see and hear the testimony of the MFDP delegates, particularly the testimony of Fannie Lou Hamer, whose evocative portrayal of her hard brutalized life as a Share Cropper on the plantation owned by Jamie Whitten, a long time Mississippi congressman (Democratic Party!) and chairman of the House Agricultural Committee, galvanized the nation.... Most knowledgeable observers thought the majority of the delegates were ready to unseat the regulars and seat the MFDP delegates in their place. But some of the all-white delegations from other southern states threatened to leave the convention and bolt the party (as they had done in previous years) if the regular Mississippi delegation was unseated, and Lyndon B Johnson feared losing Southern support in the coming campaign against Republican Party candidate Barry Goldwater. To ensure his victory in November, Johnson maneuvered to prevent the MFDP from replacing the regulars. After a frantic scramble, he ordered the chairman of the Credentials Committee not to decide the matter, and not to send the issue to the convention. With the help of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Party leader Walter Mondale, Johnson engineered a "compromise".

This was just 45 years ago. Jesus.