“Conquer anger by love. Conquer evil by good. Conquer the stingy by giving. Conquer the liar by truth.”
When I was listening to the terrifying and courageous stories of women relatives told by our three service leaders last Sunday, I couldn’t help but reflect also about the interplay between privilege and survival, and all the unknown women who didn’t make it out of countries facing tyranny, genocide, systemic rape and war- both then and now.
Two Sundays ago, I shared the story of the Rev. James Reeb, the UU minister who spoke at North Parish a few weeks before he was murdered in Selma, AL by four of his countrymen. One of you asked me if I’d also be talking about Viola Liuzzo who, like Reeb, was a Unitarian Universalist who responded to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call for people of all faiths to come support the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights for Black Americans.
Viola was a married mom of 5 children from Detroit who was a member of the NAACP and her local UU church. Sadly, just like Reeb, she was also martyred at the age of 39 in March 1965, near Selma. She was shot to death by one of four KKK members whose car pursued hers while she and 19 year old Leroy Moton shuttled people back and forth between Montgomery and Selma. All four men were arrested quickly but one of them was an FBI informant. To cover his tracks, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover launched a smear campaign against Viola within 24 hours of her murder. He used his position to efficiently spread rumors that she was a drug addict and, as a white married woman with 5 children, was having an affair with Leroy, a young Black man. Others claimed that she “brought her death upon herself.”
There was no real justice for her murder. Within two weeks of her death, a charred cross was found outside her home in Detroit. Ten months after her death, the Birmingham News carried an ad offering her bullet-ridden car for sale for $3,500. The ad said: “Do you need a crowd-getter? I have a 1963 Oldsmobile two-door in which Mrs. Viola Liuzzo was killed. Bullet holes and everything intact. Ideal to bring in crowds.”
In 1978, thirteen years after her murder, Viola’s family learned about the FBI’s complicity, deception and smear campaign after filing a Freedom of Information Act request. They sued the FBI. Not only did the judge dismiss the case, he ordered that the family pay the FBI’s legal fees of nearly $80,000. The ACLU finally got the amount reduced to $3,645 on behalf of the family. (Anyone else out there a contributing member of the NAACP, the ACLU and a UU congregation? If so, you’re honoring and extending this fight.)
Our nation is in the midst of a bunch of 60th Selma anniversaries: the Feb. 26th martyrdom of Jimmy Lee Jackson, the March 7th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the March 11th martyrdom of the Rev. James Reeb, the March 25th martyrdom of Viola Liuzzo. These are sober reminders of what the U.S. government, certain members of weaponized police forces and U.S. citizens can and have done to each other- and continue to do. It is a reminder that eventually, violent white supremacy will even come for white people. It’s a reminder of just a few of the terrible sacrifices that eventually led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965… the same act that was considerably weakened in 2013, ushering in a new wave of state-enforced voting restrictions that are unfolding even now.
May we work on being trustworthy and on building our trust in one another and in organizations that protect human beings and human rights. I’m talking about active, embodied, in-the-same-room, I-know-who-you-are, I’ve-got-your-back trust. May we also remember that we need not believe government lies… or attempts to ruin the reputations of good, loving, protesting, faith-full persons.
Yours, in faith AND trust,
Rev. Lee
P.S. If you are interested in this story, you can read: Viola Liuzzo – Wikipedia or Unfinished journey: Selma 1965 | UU World Magazine