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12 Shelter for the Spirit As the Selma movement gained momentum and the dangers to Martin became more intense, bernard Lee started traveling with him, which meant he came to the house more often. There was a great need to monitor calls, visitors, and reporters trying to see or talk to Martin Luther King Jr. bernard handled much of this because some of the faces i did not know and many of their questions i could not answer. bernard was like another member of the household. He knew where everything was and became another set of hands for me and ears for Martin. i believe bernard was loyal to Martin and the goals of the movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was truly his leader. i don’t know where bernard was born or when he joined SCLC. one day he just showed up with Martin and began to coordinate his daily activities and travel with him, and became another set of eyes. Slender in stature and quiet, bernard was another product of Alabama State University in Montgomery. He would take phone calls, relay the messages, decide who could see Martin and who could not. bernard wouldgatherandpackhisclothes,andmakesurehistravelwasdoneon time. bernard really took some of the pressure off of me as it pertained to Martin’s personal matters. He was a real jewel of the movement. Many times bernard’s hands and those of Andrew J. young had to Shelter for the Spirit / 49 be spanked for passing by the stove and eating the bacon or whatever i was cooking to put on the table. bernard was a joy to have in the house not only for his respect for “his leader” but also for his ability to defuse tension. When faced with two people who did not see eye to eye on a particular subject, he would simply shuffle one into one room and the other into another room so that neither would come into contact with the other until peace could be restored. Having someone skilled at handling the reporters became crucial, because i did not realize there were so many on the planet! During the days Martin was staying with us, reporters would use any ruse to get in. They set up tripods for cameras in the front yard, in the backyard, and on our porch to take pictures of who came and went. Some i would know because i had seen them on television; many i did not know. The importance of having reporters on the scene was demonstrated clearly by the tragic events of february 18, 1965, that awful night Jimmy Lee Jackson (no family relation to us) was shot in Marion, Alabama. Any mass meeting held at night was dangerous. There were many discussions about whether to have night marches. The possibility was always voted down because of the inability to control the situation and to know what threats might be lurking in the darkness. Those who spoke in favor of night marches wanted the advantage of numbers , as night meetings and marches could potentially draw more people as they would be off work then, and able to attend. but the voices urging caution always won out. in Marion i don’t think there was a plan for a march that night. it just happened. Marion is a small town off the beaten track, and there had been demonstrations and arrests there for several weeks. on february 18 James orange, an SCLC leader from birmingham who was coordinating the protests there with local leaders, was ar- 50 / Chapter 12 rested. black protestors meeting in Mount Zionbaptist Churchwere addressed by Rev. C. T. vivian, and the idea for a march came out of raw emotion. C. T. could bring emotion to a fever pitch to any group he spoke to. A large group then decided to march to the Perry County jail to protest orange’s arrest. The meeting leaders knew that the State Highway Patrol and local law enforcement officers were outside the church and thought they would provide a certain amount of protection for the marchers. They were dreadfully wrong. it was february and dark came fast. Somebody cut off the streetlights, and state troopers and local police attacked the crowd. After the lights went out in downtown Marion it became a freefor -allandaverydangeroussituation.Themarchersbegantoscatter. viola Jackson, mother of Jimmy Lee, was in the Mount Zion baptist Church that night and marched down the public streets where she paid taxes, and probably expected law enforcement...

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