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25 3 Heart of Dixie All that summer, when I wasn’t thinking about baseball, I was thinking about moving. Dad would start his new job in Alabama on August 1, 1961. By the end of the school year in June, Mom had already begun the familiar rituals of cleaning, sorting, discarding, and packing. This time I was old enough to help. I took sheets of newsprint and carefully wrapped the good china—dinner plates, salad plates, serving dishes, and a gravy boat. Then the good glasses, kitchen pots and pans Mom didn’t use o#en, and more. I didn’t know anything about Birmingham except the frightening stories of violence and prejudice against black people. What would it be like for me? I tried to imagine going to a new school, trying to make new friends, learning the streets and houses of a new neighborhood. I was nervous about moving . I worried that I wouldn’t have any friends in Alabama. Meanwhile, I had joined the Boy Scouts the previous fall and went to troop meetings in our church basement. I read the Boy Scouts Handbook and Boys’ Life magazine. I learned to tie all kinds of knots and tried to advance from Tenderfoot to Second Class. Dad and his brothers had been Eagle Scouts. That’s what I aimed for. Just before school ended, our troop went on a campout. Dad came with us to help the troop leader. We slept in a pup tent, lashed sticks together to make a table for preparing food, and cooked meals over a campfire. The next day we had archery practice and a nature walk through the woods. In the station wagon on the way home, Dad said: “I know you don’t like the idea of moving to Alabama. It’s even a lile scary for me. I have to talk like it’s nothing, so Melva—your Mom—won’t worry. But it could be dangerous.” “So why do you want to go there?” I asked. “Why can’t we stay?” “Well, I’ve seen how much discrimination Negroes face. I think white people need to do something. If not me, who else? If I really believe what Jesus taught us, I need to act like it.” “Even when it makes Mom upset?” 26 shattered glass in birmingham He said, “I don’t like to make life hard for her. But ever since we came to Virginia I’ve seen how bad things are for the Negroes. When I became chaplain at the reformatory, I got active in the Ministerial Association. There are several black ministers who come occasionally, and two regulars. Wya T. Walker is one of them. He asked me to preach in his church. Do you remember that we went to his house for dinner, with the whole family?” “I guess so.” “Well, for the last two years I have organized these workshops on race relations . It made me think this is something I can do, and make a difference.” For about ten minutes he drove without talking, looking around at the woods, hayfields, and small country churches. Then he told a couple of his favorite jokes. “Did you hear about the sailboat race? Two boats: one Russian, the other American. The Americans won. But the Russians told everyone, ‘We finished second, and the Americans were next to last!’” He laughed loudly. “Do you know why ducks have flat feet?” I had heard the same jokes over and over, so I didn’t laugh. Dad looked at me, and clicked his tongue. “You know, one of my favorite things—. What happened was, when you were about three or four—it was in Hudson, I remember—I told you a joke and you just looked at me. You were just a lile kid. And you said, ‘Gee, Dad, that was almost funny.’ What a line! I laughed all day about that. ‘That was almost funny.’” And he laughed again. Just as we pulled into our driveway—I could see Spitzy stretched out in a sunny spot near the forsythia bush—Dad stopped the car and turned off the engine. “Randy, you’re old enough to understand what’s happening in this country now, especially what I will be doing with the Alabama Council. That’s why I want you to know what’s going on. I’m counting on you to help the younger kids, and to make life easier for...

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