Man who was part of MLK movement reflects on history
RACINE (WITI) -- Students and activists gathered in Racine on Monday, January 21st to reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s work. On hand was a man who worked with Dr. King to help shape the movement's response to racism.
On a street corner in Racine Monday, 825 miles north and a world away from Montgomery, Alabama, Kenneth Lumpkin heard the echoes of a dream.
"I'm from Montgomery. Alabama, and I had the opportunity to march with him. I had the opportunity to meet Dr. King in person on one occasion during one of the rallies," Lumpkin said.
Lumpkin is now 64 years old. He came of age during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
"The police -- we felt sometimes would release the dogs on us to drive us away. Then we had people on the other side, KKK. As a group, we wasn't afraid, but individually fear existed," Lumpkin said.
It was King's strategy to face hatred and racism with non-violent collective action, but the legions of protesters had to be trained. Lumpkin put together films on how to react to violence
"They used me for what we call training films, how when you were in a march, how to act how to protect the women. We was trained how to fall, how to protect them, how to use newspaper when they would use billy clubs -- it would protect our bodies," Lumpkin said.
It was bitter cold, not billy clubs that posed the biggest threat in Racine on Monday, as more than 100 students came to lay a wreath at the foot of a statue of a larger than life figure as they worked to change their own little corner of Racine.
"We want to create change in our community. It's a slow process, but it's worth it and it's going to happen," 17-year-old Alexia Gates said.
"If it weren't for the movement then, we wouldn't have Obama today, but it's not the time to give up now," Lumpkin said.