bradsaptblog

I actually really enjoyed this section of the book. The first part that struck me was Lewis' description of poor northern inner city neighborhoods. He was shocked to see the state that cities were in, including Harlem. He couldnt believe the fact that violence was everywhere and people had to put bars on their windows for protection. Furthermore, he overheard groups referring to white people as 'whitey' which he thought was unfortunate. Obviously, this was the area that Malcolm X regularly preached from, so violence against whites was their preferred way of protest. The second section of this chapter I enjoyed was his and the rest of the civil rights leaders workings with the Kennedy administration and also the build up to the march on Washington in August of 1963. He discussed how Kennedy originally wanted to silence the prosets like Roosevelt did, and also how A. Phillip Randolph, who dealt with FDR, was the true inspiration behind that memoral day. Lastly, I liked his description of Martin Luther King's speech at the march. He described it as mediocre at best, until the end of course. He said that he could see King realize the historical implications of the day as the speech went on, so he knew he had to speak words that would be able to be a rallying cry for the movement. At the end of the day, Lewis still did not think that it was MLK's strongest speech ever, but it was perfect for the occasion.

-Brad