Khalid Kamau has studied the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
He knows about U.S. Rep. John Lewis, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and others from the old guard. Now he and others involved in newer movements want to know more.
On Thursday, Atlanta Black Lives Matter, of which Kamau is a member, will hold a summit with veterans of the civil rights movement. He is not publicizing the location, and said the meeting is not open to the public.
The meeting will include members of several activist organizations, including Atlanta Black Lives Matter and Rise Up Georgia, a community-based organization formed two years ago that fights for racial and economic justice.
Lewis is expected to attend as well as others long involved in the civil rights movement, including Ben Williams, president of the Cobb County SCLC.
Such intergenerational dialogue has been long desired by many, particularly in the wake of multiple shooting deaths of African-Americans by police.
Kamau, who organized the event, said debates have surfaced about strategies, which issues should become a focus and how to expand the movement. He realized from his research that these were the same kinds of debates that took place in earlier movements.
“We didn’t want these debates to paralyze our effectiveness,” Kamau said. “We were most interested in how the leaders in the civil rights movement managed to get so much done.” So many of the leaders and foot soldiers of the earlier movement still lived in Atlanta, so they decided it would be good to talk.
“I deeply appreciate the fact that they’re open to conversation with those of us who preceded them in the arena of social justice and activism,” said SCLC’s Williams.
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