The Greensboro Four Sit-in at a Woolworth's Lunch Counter Should Reignite a Passion for Change Today

Greensboro Four sit-in at lunch counter being that started a revolution, commemorated with opening of Civil Rights Museum in Woolworth's building.

 

David Richmond, from left, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and Joseph McNeil 

leave the Woolworth's in 1960. (CNN)

Joseph McNeil, David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Ezell Blair, Jr., four black freshmen at North Carolina A&T University, located in Greensboro, North Carolina, decided that enough was enough. Their names are forever etched in the historical landscape of the United States and the struggle for equality and civil rights. The "Greensboro Four" refused to leave a lunch counter at a downtown Woolworth's department store on February 1, 1960, after being denied service because of their race in accordance with local custom and law. This was a bold act of defiance on their part because it was commonplace in the South for blacks to be murdered for much less than to boldly challenge racial segregation at a lunch counter. It is ironic that the 1929 Woolworth's building where the sit-ins occurred has now been made into a museum (International Civil Rights Center and Museum), to commemorate the action of the four young men.

These four young men willingly defied Jim Crow and their selfless actions are still an inspiration today. It literally spurred many other students into action. Within days, several hundred students from the area's black colleges and high schools staged sit-ins at Woolworth's and within days, black students across the South were staging similar sit-ins at other segregated facilities. By the end of the year, more than 50 thousand students, mainly blacks and mostly in the South, had taken part in sit-ins. What a tremendous spirit and determination these courageous young people displayed. Today, the ills we are faced with are not only discrimination, but it is also black-on-black crime. Why have we lost that fervor in changing the face of those inner city communities that are plagued with drugs and gun violence. Why have we dropped the ball on saving those young black males who have become a statistic in the penal system rather than an example for others to follow?

Out of the sit-in movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), led by Ella Baker, was born. The group said that the sit-ins were "concerned with something much bigger than a hamburger or even a giant-sized Coke." The students, she said, were "seeking to rid America of the scourge of racial segregation and discrimination -- not only at lunch counters, but in every aspect of life." We have come a long way in this country, but there is much work still to be done. This year, we will commemorate the 50th anniversaries of the 1961 Freedom Rides and the 1963 March on Washington, the 1964 Freedom Summer and the 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery.

We must keep our eyes on the message Ella Baker stressed -- the students who risked their lives fighting to end racial segregation did so because they wanted to enjoy their freedom rights, which are the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the human rights granted by God. Many, on both sides, take those rights for granted. We are living in the worst economic realities in a long time and it is easy for many to take advantage of the less fortunate -- the poor and the unemployed -- often along color lines. Let us continue to strive for equality in unrestricted access to quality and affordable housing and health care, equal employment opportunities and an end to racial discrimination that continues to dog us today, whether it is coming from some unscrupulous and racist members of law enforcement or the Ku Klux Klan and its sympathizers.

Let us not reflect on our past and shrug our shoulders. It is time to take action and fight the societal ills that hang like a milestone around our necks. Let's resolve to make those unrealized goals of a half a century ago a reality. Just as the Greensboro Four sat down at the lunch counter at Woolworth's and took a stand against a racist and unjust establishment, let us stand up and do the same today. For example, those people on the South Side communities of Chicago, it's time to say enough is enough to gun violence and the gangs wreaking havoc in your community. Take your communities back from black-on-black crime. Take your communities back. Change will come, as it did in July 1960, when the Greensboro Woolworth's desegregated its lunch counter. The Greensboro Four just got tired of accepting the status quo because they knew they had rights. Joseph McNeil, said in a recent interview, that the students were angered by the persecution their parents and grandparents had faced. If they didn't take action, the group thought, their children's lives would be no better.