“We’re trying to create ways for people to be a part of this democratic project that’s shaping all our lives.”- Blake Strode, executive director of ArchCity Defenders.
It almost seems unfathomable. A mere 60 years ago – the lifetime of a young grandparent – Black and white Americans were engaged in a bloody and brutal struggle to attain the simple but constitutional right to vote. That time in 1964 was so courageous, so confrontational and so critical, it’s been designated “Freedom Summer.”
The 1960s project was designed to draw the nation’s attention to the violent persecution Mississippi blacks experienced in their attempt to exercise their voting rights. Unlike similar direct-action efforts in southern cities like Montgomery and Birmingham, white Mississippi segregationists put up intense, brutal and murderous resistance. The goal of the organizers was to strategically resist oppression while developing a grassroots voting rights movement that could be sustained after student activists left Mississippi.
Today, a local legal advocacy organization, ArchCity Defenders and its partner agencies kicked off “Freedom Summer STL” during the Juneteenth weekend. Noting that this year is also the 10th anniversary of the Ferguson Uprising following the police killing of Michael Brown Jr., events connected to “Freedom Summer STL” include civics training and legal services, criminal record expungement support and other civil and human rights and community-building activities.
This year, the Deaconess Foundation awarded a $100,000 “Policy Campaign Award” to ArchCity in support of Freedom Summer STL. The grant is gifted to organizations working in the arena of “political and voter rights education and advocacy that creates spaces of service, activation, and a recommitment to justice and transformation for the region.” “Freedom Summer STL” collaborators include Action St. Louis, Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, Freedom Community Center, Homes For All, and other grassroots community partners.
Although 2024 is a critical election year, Blake Strode, executive director of ArchCity Defenders, stressed that Freedom Summer STL is not an attempt to directly compare the racial and political conditions of 1964 to those of this generation.
“We’re certainly not equating where we are today with where we were then,” Strode said. “But we are trying to revive the spirit of mobilization and resistance while noting we still have a very long way to go before we can say ‘we’re a free and liberated society’ particularly black folk in Missouri and much of the country.”
Today it may be hard to imagine how 1960s organizers and activists confronted a segregated system that employed laws and fear tactics to intimidate and disenfranchise Black voters. Prospective volunteers were alerted to conditions in Mississippi that would possibly result in their arrest or worse outcomes.
The connection may not directly mirror the horrors of the summer of 1964, but unfortunately there are still issues that parallel that perilous time in history.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), since 2008, states across the country have passed voter suppression laws aimed at making “it harder for Americans — particularly black people, the elderly, students and people with disabilities — to exercise their fundamental right to cast a ballot.”
“The fight is ongoing,” Strode added. “We are still fighting for voting rights and access to the polls. We still have millions of people that are disenfranchised; we still have a threat to bodily autonomy that’s on the ballot. We have people and families criminalized, uprooted and torn apart every day. We are facing a crisis of hopelessness, poverty, criminalization, mass incarceration and our response should be reflective of that crisis.”
Leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) went to great lengths to recruit northern white student volunteers to take part in the freedom movement. Just one week after the first group of volunteers arrived in Oxford, Mississippi, three civil rights workers – James Chaney, a black Mississippian, and two white northerners, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman – went missing. The abduction and murder of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman failed to break the spirit of Freedom Summer staff and volunteers. Instead, the atrocity only served to intensify their commitment to move ahead with the campaign.
Strode, when recalling the courage and resilience of protestors during the 2014 Ferguson uprising, referenced the sacrifices of the three civil rights workers 60 years ago and the need to cherish the practice of organizing and mobilizing for change.
“That was a tremendous undertaking on their part, so I do want people to know we’re honoring that,” Strode said. “When you leverage the language of something as monumental as Freedom Summer, I think you have to be clear that, I hope, we’re in the tradition of it but also want people to remember that people risked their lives in 1964.”
The multi-racial approach employed to combat racism and exclusion in the 60s is not lost on Strode, who stressed the importance of “multi-racial coalition-building.”
“ArchCity is a Black-led but multiracial organization, and both are intentional,” Strode said. “We know the interests of Black people deserve its own space and resources but it’s also going to require all of us across racial lines, gender lines, and class lines to bring about the structural transformation we need. So, we hope that this can serve as an activation and mobilization point for people of all races in St. Louis.”
The Freedom Summer STL events focuses on political education and advocacy which include voter registration, voter rights information, civics training and legal services such as criminal record expungement support and counseling on housing-related issues.
“Far too many people in our region are experiencing housing and economic insecurity at some of the worst levels we have seen in recent times,” read an early June ArchCity press release. The statement highlighted the importance of bridging gaps between policymakers and those most impacted by their decisions.
Organizers of the local summer activities said they aim to “ensure that information and resources can be easily accessed in a singular setting so that community members have the tools needed to impact policy change.”
There were two events in June. The next Freedom Summer STL event is planned for July 27, at Habitat for Humanity on South Grand and Chippewa. Community activities will culminate with a march and rally downtown on Aug. 30, 2024.
The gravity of the upcoming general election is front and center with local organizers. For Strode, it provides a chance for personal accountability.
“For those of us who believe deeply in democracy, it’s an opportunity for us to try and build and shape the world we want to see,” Strode said. “And part of that is getting educated on the issues and candidates. Another part-a harder part-is community-building and collective engagement.
“We’re trying to create ways for people to connect and engage their neighbors, friends, partners and families so we can really be a part of this democratic project that’s shaping all our lives. This election serves as political context for where we are as a country, region, city and amplifies the urgency of doing this work right now.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy FellowFor more information on Freedom Summer STL visit: https://www.archcitydefenders.org/