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18 Perilous Times Sully was taking Martin to Montgomery to catch a flight during a tense periodforthemovement,andSullytoldMartin,“now,mygunis on the seat between us, so if a car comes up alongside that looks suspicious , you shoot while i put the pedal to the metal.” Martin turned to Sully with a little laugh and said, “Sully, i thought i had taught you well and converted you to nonviolence, but it seems as if you have flunked. When we get back, i am going to have to start all over with you. you know i can’t shoot anyone.” Thank God they made it to Montgomery and Sully made it back without any trouble! That evening, the staff arrived at the house for the usual meeting and told us that it was a godsend that Sully had taken Martin out the backwayfromthechurchbecausetheyhadcredibleinformationthat there was a sharpshooter hidden out in front, poised to kill Martin that night. Martin began to worry about our safety in the house especially since his experience with the fbi during the Montgomery bus boycott taught him that he couldn’t rely on them. So naturally when the Selma movement began the fbi was a factor. We knew or suspected that our phone was bugged. When or by whom we didn’t know, but we felt the government would do anything it deemed necessary. Perilous Times / 87 i remember after the March 7, 1965, bloody Sunday march when a constant stream of people, both staff and reporters, were in the house and i noticed a very large Caucasian man constantly moving about in the house, and he seemed often to be where i was. not used to this presence, i asked Martin, “Just who is this fellow? What’s his connection to SCLC?” Martin smiled and quietly told me, “Jean, i think you would want to put up with him. He has been sent by the fbi to protect you.” My response: “oh!” Afterthat,every time imovedinandout ofthehouse,imadesure he knew where i was. i even began to assign him tasks. “Would you mind sweeping the porch? Dr. King may want to have a news conference here.” He stayed for several days and eased out just the way he had eased in. i found out later that he had been a Georgia Tech football player, which explained his solid build. i always thought the fbi knew of a specific threat to us during those days because police were everywhere. Thank God, there never was any violence against the house. At onepoint,whileSCLCwasintown,therewasalullinthehype. There weren’t as many people from the media around; sometimes there were none. A staff meeting was called at the house to see what needed to be done to bring life back to the movement. The media had to be around to take note of what was happening, otherwise the outside world would not know what was going on. The meeting was hot and heavy; idea after idea, theory after theory. finally the decision was made for Martin and Ralph to go to jail in Selma just as they had in birmingham. This would bring national attention back. Aftermuchdiscussion, MartinandRalph wentoutthenextdayto get arrested while leading a march from brown Chapel to the courthouse and then back to the church. but there was no arrest, just police standing by and watching. 88 / Chapter 18 As we look, really look, at the city of Selma, there were two factions in the white community, the Wilson baker group that was reasonable , intelligent, and well educated, the Jim Clark crowd, which was resistant to any change, hate-filled, and not well educated. in the black community you had almost the same but less hate. There were those in the black community who felt things were moving too fast—they counseled, “Just give them time, white folks will come around. i am doing pretty good myself. i can get what i want, Mr. Charlie is good to me.” Then there were those who had begun to ask: “Just when is Mr. Charlie going to change? He may be doing for you, but don’t you want anything for your children? no, i want a better life today, now.” There were divisions within each group. Then both groups would try to put up a united front. neither side knew the conflicts within the other group. one side tried to make a new day, with equal rights and privileges for all, while the other tried to maintain the old day with...

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