If I
could have tea and a conversation with anyone today, it would be Linda Blackmon Lowery, the youngest
person who participated in the march on Selma 50 years ago.
I’d have
a cup of Endurance tea with Ms. Lowery, now a 64-year-old mother and grandmother
and ask her to tell me her story. I’d want to know how she endured a police
beating but didn't fight back. She kept marching.
She
still has the scars from that horrible day when she participated in a march a
few weeks before Selma. Ms. Lowery told an audience at the New York Historical
Society how she was viciously beaten by a state trooper.
And as
we sip, I’d want to hear passages from her book, “Turning Fifteen on the Roadto Freedom.”
If she
had time, I’d ask her to share a cup of Inspiration tea with me because others
want to know her story and she inspires the next generation of young people.
And I’d
ask her to tell me how did Martin Luther King Jr. inspire her. As we honor him
on his birthday, I’d like to honor Ms. Lowery for hanging in and making a
difference in our lives.
