| Page 2 of 2 < |
Marking a Park's Social Revolution
Park Rangers Sam Swersky and Kym M. Elder and ex-picketer Joan Trumpower Mulholland.
(Rich Lipski - Twp)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Her daughter Rocky led yesterday's gathering of 300 people in an emotional rendition of "O Freedom," a song that was sung on the picket line,
Hyman Bookbinder, then an AFL-CIO lobbyist for civil rights, was joined yesterday by his daughter and granddaughter. "The movement wasn't only for us old-timers. It was for our families," said Bookbinder, 89. "This event is a reminder."
For some involved in the sit-ins and picket lines, it was too painful to return. Those who attended said it was as if they were transported in time.
Seeing the trolley car parked in front of the gates, Tina Clarke said she felt like a teenager again, as she was when she protested with the county chapter of the NAACP. She said she still could feel the spit on her cheek from a white male heckler that stained the white collar of her blouse.
"There is no time frame on when pain and suffering should end," said Clarke, 67, African American liaison for Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D).
Clarke said she had to explain to friends and relatives who questioned her decision to return to the park that it is now an arts and cultural center operated by a nonprofit partnership with lands managed by the National Park Service.
"It's not just my history; it's our history," she said. "It's part of what helped us get to where we are today. If none of these things happened, where would we be?"
But the park is a troubling memory for some who were children at the time. When Vernon Ricks drives past the park from his home in Potomac, he remembers riding the trolley car to the entrance on Sundays. From the windows, he could see the neon lights, the merry-go-round and the wooden roller coaster, but he could not enter. He attended the gathering because his wife, Janet, wanted to "start the healing of a scar," she said.
"To me, it is still a symbol of segregation," said Ricks, 66. "I'm still not happy to be here."
Later, he added, "Don't say I'm coming back."
Taking her husband's hand, Janet Ricks said, "Yes, you are. Yes, you are."
Mobile
Email