What would have become of the civil rights movement if we didn’t have television images shown to us of the peaceful protesters in Alabama, or the fiery truth of MLK’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech?
It is ironic and sad that the same medium that can be used to transmit live compelling images of injustice and brutality is more often used to broadcast inane drivel that fully supports supremacy. Every now and again the lens is turned in the proper direction and courageous filmmakers and producers bring us a story that must be told.
Such is the story of a massacre that occurred in a little known town in South Carolina called Orangeburg, told by DAN KLORES, who was a student at the University of South Carolina at the time of the incident. DAN created a documentary called ‘Black Magic’ which was an homage to the great basketball players that attended historically Black colleges and universities. DAN was able to weave in the story of Orangeburg into his film since one of the young people murdered was a high school basketball star.
What was the massacre in Orangeburg? Why isn’t this story part of the cultural legacy that helps Blacks identify the resolve that the elders had in demanding justice in this country? The first problem with the story of Orangeburg is that all the victims were Black. The second problem with understanding this story is that all photographic records were destroyed in a fire.
In 1968 the nation was reeling from the fallout of the failed Vietnam conflict and probably also emotionally spent with issues concerning the rights of African Americans. I consider this time from 1968 to 1972 to be almost like a concentrated, microwave strength Reconstruction period. Only a month after the Orangeburg massacre MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr. would be assassinated in Memphis. If they was going to any outpouring of sympathy for the victims of Orangeburg it was surely drowned in the wake left by KING’s murder.
These victims from Orangeburg deserve their due also. Their struggle was for a quality of life commensurate with those people that they lived with. The integration of a bowling alley was at the center of their demands, but the real issue was the right to live life as a citizen and not second class. When state troopers fired on unarmed protesters it isn’t simply a miscarriage of justice, but the ominous presence of martial law. In several years we will learn the stories of the BlackWaterUSA mercenaries that were given carte blanche to use deadly force in New Orleans. Store owners were only protecting goods that would have to be thrown away due to contamination.
Black Magic
