Civil rights struggle revealed

I started working as a reporter in Griffin, Ga., where I befriended a wonderful, funny guy named Art. Art worked in law enforcement, but he and his family had had a history with law enforcement. Art's cousin died with a bullet still in his leg from the sheriff's gun -- because the cousin had been caught stealing from the sheriff's moonshine still. More directly, Art had been beaten by a Griffin cop in 1968, solely because Art was (and is) black and wanted to vote. All this seemed remarkable to me, then at the time a lad of maybe 24.

I never cease to be amazed at how cruel people can be to other people.

Some of this senseless cruelty was noted by The Birmingham (Ala.) News, which long suppresed its photos of the civil rights struggle there. Carrying the headline of "Unseen, unforgotten," the section carries photos that really were forgotten, left in a box until they were discovered by an intern. The package is at http://www.al.com/unseen/.

Check it out, because discrimination of all kinds still exists everywhere. Change a label and it'll be more obvious.

One of the strongest pieces I've seen in a long time is here: http://www.al.com/unseen/video.ssf?terminal16

This time, let's not forget.