THE ARTICLE THAT I WAS INTERVIEWED FOR LAST WEEK BY TAUNTON GAZZETTE STAFF REPORTER MARC LAROCQUE Civil rights at 50: Equality still a work in progress Marc Larocque Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter Posted Jun. 28, 2014 @ 11:32 pm Updated Jun 29, 2014 at 12:12 AM TAUNTON — Darwin Barry Phillips remembers organizing a crowd of about 400 people in Taunton in the early 1970s to protest against the opening of Sambo’s, a chain restaurant with a racially offensive name, only to have a gun pulled on him and others. Phillips remembers the first time a grown man called him the N-word, while he was serving in the U.S. Coast Guard about 10 years before that, followed by systematic antagonism and assaults by a group of racists who he served with on a ship in Boston. And Phillips, 67, remembers growing up as a kid during the days of harassment and beatings by the Los Angeles Police Department against him and other black youths who gathered there. He also remembers that his uncle died from complicating factors resulting from a gruesome assault by the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma. In the middle of it all, there was the signing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon Johnson, which was “a step” in the right direction, forcing society to face some of its problems with racism, Phillips said. Now, 50 years later, the culture has advanced and became more accepting; however, racism still lurks in the shadows and there are those who would like to return to the days of Jim Crow segregation, he said. “Civil rights created problems, but thank God it created those problems or we wouldn’t be where we are today,” said Phillips, who is African-American and Native American. “We had to face them. We have been forced to face our inadequacies because the clowns came out of the woodwork. They got scared and they are still running scared. I think the Civil Rights Act was a step, just the same as electing a black president six years ago. … I think it was a boon to all of society.” African-Americans from Taunton and others from the community are reflecting this week on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act, what it meant for the country, how it furthered the cause of equal rights and the need to continue efforts against racial discrimination. Phillips said he joined thousands of others in Washington, D.C., last year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, during which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The diversity of the crowd and the peacefulness of the anniversary gathering made him think about the potential for societal progress and the societal gains the culture must defend. “We know how it’s supposed to work,” he said. “Some don’t want it to work that way for matters of greed. Those are the ones messing things up. Even some of them now are starting to realize they have to change their tune. … We’re here to get along. The Great Spirit says we are here to take care of each other. We are not doing it and we are suffering and we won’t stop suffering until we learn how to do it. We are learning.”
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 00:59:06 +0000
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