City Of Jackson Formally Apologizes To Youngest Living Freedom Rider
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the city of Jackson, Mississippi, issued a formal apology to Hezekiah Watkins, the youngest living Freedom Rider.
According to WAPT, Jackson Mayor John Horhn issued the apology during a prayer breakfast at Greater Bethlehem Temple Church on Monday morning. “Today, the city of Jackson publicly acknowledges that what happened to Mr. Hezekiah Watkins was wrong,” Horhn said.
“He should never have been treated as a criminal for walking into a bus station in his own city, and he should never have carried the fear and humiliation that came with being sent to Parchman at 13 years old. Yet instead of allowing that trauma to harden his heart, Mr. Watkins turned his pain into purpose. Jackson is a better city because he chose to tell the truth, to teach our young people, and to keep believing in the possibility of a more just Mississippi.”
During the summer of 1961, the Freedom Riders rode a Greyhound bus throughout the South to protest segregation laws. Made up of approximately 400 volunteers across 40 states, the Freedom Riders often faced arrest and assaults from both the enraged white public and police officers. Before the trip, the Freedom Riders were trained in nonviolent protest tactics. Among the Freedom Riders was late Georgia Rep. John Lewis.
“We were determined not to let any act of violence keep us from our goal,” Lewis said, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. “We knew our lives could be threatened, but we had made up our minds not to turn back.”
As images of the buses being burned and the Freedom Riders being assaulted spread through the nation, more and more people volunteered. Hezekiah Watkins was one of those people when the Freedom Riders arrived in Jackson. After arriving at the Greyhound station to see the Freedom Riders, Watkins was arrested and charged with “breach of peace.” The then 13-year-old Watkins was held in a cell for five days on Mississippi’s death row.
“I cannot forget what happened to me as a young boy, but I have never let it stop me from loving this city or from telling my story,” Watkins said. “To receive this apology in my lifetime means a great deal, not just for me, but for every child who has ever felt that the system was stacked against them. My prayer is that Jackson will keep moving toward truth, toward justice, and toward a future where no young person has to go through what I went through.”
The events of that day spurred Watkins to continually fight for civil rights and to be a leader in his local community. He has made such an impact on Jackson that last year, Mayor Horhn established “Hezekiah Watkins Day.”
I wish I could say it’s insane that a 13-year-old was held on death row for simply being at a protest, but it’s not like our legal system has improved substantially when it comes to incarcerating Black youth or vilifying protesters. As we have a president who is decrying how bad the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was for white people and is using the federal government to walk back decades of progress, it’s more important now than ever that we recognize both the sacrifices made to achieve those gains and how bad things were before we got them.
SEE ALSO:
The Real Story Behind Rosa Parks’ Bus Ride And What’s Often Overlooked