[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/TheGreen_06272014_4-EnlightenMe_CivilRights.mp3|titles= Delaware Public Media's Tom Byrne interviews James Brown and DSU professor Dr. Dolores Finger Wright.]
Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act being signed in to law by President Lyndon Johnson.
To help commemorate enactment of that the landmark legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in employment, schools and public places, the Dover Public Library is hosting a screening of the documentary The Freedom Riders at the Schwartz Center.
The documentary will be followed by discussion with two Dover residents, James Brown and DSU professor Dr. Dolores Finger Wright, who were active in the Civil Rights movement.
Both participated in sit-ins and freedom rides in the South during the early 1960’s – spurring the country toward the Civil Rights Act.
On last week’s edition of The Green, Finger Wright recalled how difficult taking a non-violent approach during those protests could be.
"I spent most of my picketing time crying, tears just rolling down my face because I wanted to retaliate," said Finger Wright. "It took a great deal of intestinal fortitude not to retaliate."
Brown noted that even 50 years later the struggle for equality continues, albeit in a different way.
"We have to be able to see the subtleties. It’s gone from the obvious to subtleties and we have to be able to deal with the subtleties," said Brown. "I want to see the younger people go there and do that. Otherwise, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be in the same predicament.
Finger Wright worries young people today aren't as prepared to fight for civil rights because the need is not as urgent as it was in the 1960s.
"I do think to some extent they are apathetic, because they don't have to deal with the rawness of what we dealt with" said Finger Wright. "They just haven't had that experience."
Brown says the place for young people to start is exercising the right to vote.
"It's an integral part of the way blacks are going to continue to achieve political gain," said Brown. "We went into the South to register [people]. We don't want that wasted."
Wednesday’s screening of The Freedom Riders and post-film discussion at the Schwartz Center begins at 7 pm. It is free and open to the public.
Both Brown and Finger Wright hope those who come will walk away with a sense of what it took to bring about the Civil Rights Act, and its continued relevance 50 years later.
"Knowledge is key," said Brown. "I would hope that they would get a knowledge of the past so that they could take that knowledge and use it as a path to the future."