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Following the release of an exciting new documentary of the same name, by Stanley Nelson, shown at the Sundance Film Festivals this past weekend, THE FREEDOM RIDERS is the focus this week on Democracy Now.
However, I (for one) am thankful for the lengthy focus in DN on the story of James Zwerg.
Why?
[Currently, I can't even find a Wikipedia page on this guy named James Zwerg.]
Well, I am a Caucasian American History instructor from the Midwest USA and I cannot recall ever hearing of Mr. James Zwerg before.
In real life, my new hero, Mr. Zwerg had the hell beat out of him as he stood up for what was right and movement spread across and around the South. Many of those racists called him a traitor to his (white) race and he lost all his front teeth.
As he tells the story today, James Zwerg modestly says, "I got a good whooping."
He shrugs it off--because he knew the beatings and jailings were destined to come his way--once he and the other 11 students from Nashville had determined in 1961 to ride the buses together into Mississippi and Alabama. [Another person interviewed for the documentary noted that all 12 had written their own wills before leaving Nashville.]
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