Xavier University hosts Freedom Riders to rally voters before November election

The central conflict of the gathering at Xavier University on Wednesday was the gap between declared rights and delivered equality. Activists, faith leaders, and descendants of the 1961 Freedom Riders used the event to mobilize voters for the November 3 mid-term election. The group specifically urged young people to keep fighting for equal representation in government.

The rally marked the final stop of a 12-day commemorative journey. It also served as the conclusion for a documentary film project titled "The Ride." This project retraced the original bus trip taken 65 years ago. The original 1961 journey challenged racist norms and illegal segregation in public bus stations across the South.

Rev. Tracy Blackmon, a civil rights activist and minister, addressed the crowd about the unfinished work of previous generations. "Our assignment is to prepare (young people) to do what we could not finish," Blackmon said. "A right declared is not necessarily a right delivered." He praised Xavier University for insisting on Black intellectual excellence during a time when segregation sought to limit Black possibility.

The original Freedom Riders began their journey in Washington, D.C., in May 1961. Their goal was to reach New Orleans to protest Southern states' refusal to comply with U.S. Supreme Court rulings. Those rulings declared that segregation in buses, restaurants, and waiting rooms in interstate terminals was unconstitutional. The activists faced violent mobs, including Ku Klux Klan members working with local police. Some riders were jailed, and the bus ride ended in Alabama after fire bombings. However, some Freedom Riders flew to New Orleans and sought shelter at Xavier University.

Participants in the tour included Kredelle Petway-Philips, a Freedom Rider. Robbie Thomas Pemberton attended with his father Henry "Hank" James Thomas, a former Freedom Rider. Jerrick Lewis, the nephew of the late U.S. Rep. John Robert Lewis, was also present. The event honored Jerome "Big Duck" Smith, a New Orleanian Freedom Rider and community organizer who died last month. New Orleans deputy mayor of public safety Michael Harrison spoke about the courage of the original riders. He noted that they confronted a system that denied people their dignity.

Speakers warned of Black voter disenfranchisement following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Callais v. Louisiana. That decision ordered lawmakers to redraw the state's Congressional map and weakened the Voting Rights Act. Legislators subsequently created a map with only one majority-Black district out of six. This occurred despite a third of the state's population being Black. Blackmon stated that questions about voting rights and democratic integrity are again before the nation. He emphasized that democracy is about the dignity of people and the equal opportunity to shape decisions.

The event concluded with a second-line celebration.