Freedom Riders

Tonight I caught part of a PBS documentary on the Freedom Riders. Their courage was awesome. But my personality being what it is, my primary visceral reaction to what they went through was rage. And as I often do, I'm going to express that rage in language provided by my religious tradition.

So, to the mobs who harassed and assaulted the Freedom Riders and their local black supporters, and to the Southern white authorities who prosecuted the Riders or refused to protect them--I repeat to you words spoken about 125 years earlier to other mobs and other white authorities not too far to the north and west of you:

Their basket shall not be full;
their houses and barns shall perish;
they shall be despised by those who flattered them.

It would be better for them
if a millstone had been hung around their necks
and they had been drowned in the depth of the sea.

Wo to all those
who discomfort, and drive, and murder my people,
says the Lord of Armies.

(Especially
Bull Connor,
John Patterson,
and Ross Barnett.)

A generation of vipers will not escape
the damnation of hell.

(D&C 121: 20, 22-23)

Sigh. I feel better now.