Samuel DuBois Cook's Final Farewell to Benjamin Mays

Benjamin Elijah Mays 1894-1984

By Samuel DuBois Cook

From Southern Changes, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1984

As I have said so often, I am one of Bennie Mays' "boys." I have been one of his "boys" since I was a kid in the rolling countryside and on the red hills of Griffin, Georgia, and I will be one of his "boys" until I die.

Dr. Mays had a love affair with the basic and perennial values of the human enterprise: excellence, decency, justice, non-violence, love, good will, reason, nobility, concern for others, compassion for human suffering, respect for the dignity and worth of every man, woman, and child, sensitivity to human needs, a heightened sense of personal and social responsibility, and the love of God. He was so many things: prophet, scholar, educator, apostle of social justice, champion of human excellence, author, humanist, humanitarian, teacher, voice of the voiceless, a chief founder of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Revolution, a major architect of the New South, inspirer, motivator, and transformer of youth, and peerless spokesman of the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth.

Dr. Mays was a hard taskmaster. I sometimes thought that it was easier to please God than Dr. Mays. His standards for himself and others were inordinately high, lofty, and demanding. Truly, they could never be fully satisfied--thank God. He kept us stretching, striving, aspiring, and always looking up.

I have told him that the title of one of his books, Lord, the People Have Driven Me On, was a great misnomer. The Lord knows that Bennie Mays drove the people on. And I told him that Bennie Mays drove the good Lord on. He was always inexhaustible, creatively restless, irrepressible, tireless, always dreaming of new worlds to conquer, new mountains to climb, new rivers to cross, new tasks to tackle, new challenges to meet. Life, for him, could never be finished. No wonder that, in spite of the spate of books he wrote, he was working on three more when he died. And he always thought that his best book, on the Brown public school desegregation case of 1954, was yet to be written. He lived in the world of anticipation, and not simply in the world of memory. He lived in the creative world of hope. He died dreaming. He died aspiring to greater things and loftier heights. What a magnificent way to die! Dr. Mays was a daring, incurable, and incredible dreamer. Dreams were a central part of his longevity, productivity, meaning, zest, and inspiration.

Dr. Mays was born free. He lived free. He died free. Always courageous, he was a prophet to the core of his being--always emphasizing the creative tension between the "is" and the "ought," promise and fulfillment, the Kingdom of man and the Kingdom of God. He never forgot the prophetic responsibility to speak "truth to power." He was always his own man, always a man of great moral courage, rebellion, and affirmation. Fierce independence and individualism, nobility, and supreme integrity were hallmarks of his great life. "Never sell you soul" was a central theme and imperative of his teachings and life. His soul was never for sale to anybody at anytime for any price. In a world of constant pressures and counter-pressures, he had supreme integrity, character, and incorruptibility.

Bennie Mays taught us how to live. He also taught us how to die. Miss Cordeila Blount, his devoted niece, said to me the day of his death: "Bernie was so remarkable. He was remarkable in life. He was remarkable in the twilight of life and in death." Yes, our beloved Dr. Mays lived with grace and dignity, and died with grace and dignity.

Even as he confronted the frailties of age and death, Buck Bennie was mighty tough. He made a game of wrestling with, and defying death. He was utterly defiant and outrageously uncooperative. More than once, he escaped the cold clutches of death, with the clarion call "I ain't got time' to die." "I'm too busy serving my master." Until the final encounter, he won every battle with death. This was so symbolic of the man. Dr. Mays was always a great fighter--whatever or whomever the foe.

Mrs. Sally Warner, his superb confidante, great friend, and assistant, told him, after he had been in intensive care at the hospital a few months ago, that she had called several people. Alert and sharp as always, he got the message. As only Bennie Mays would and could say, he commented: "I fooled you, didn't I?" He fooled all of us so many times.

"The time and place of a man's life on earth are the time and place of his body," said Howard Thurman, "but the meaning and significance of his life are as vast and as far-reaching as his gifts, his times, and the passionate commitment of all his powers can make it." 

Dr. Mays touched, enriched, inspired, educated, motivated, transformed so many lives--black and white, rich and poor, male and female, learned and untutored, Gentile and Jew, Protestant and Catholic, Northerner and Southerner, religionist and secularist. So many owe him so much.

 Dr. Mays lived a long life. But longevity has no intrinsic merit. As Dr. Mays reminded us so often, it is not how long but how well. It is not the quantity of years but the quality of service that counts. Dr. Mays gave to life the highest and the best we can give to life: the gift of self. He followed his own advice that "Lives are saved by giving them away." "The truly great men of history are not those who hoard and keep," said Dr. Mays, "but those who dedicate their lives to some great cause and who give themselves to the benefit of the people." Again, "the only way to save our lives is to give ourselves to others in some worthwhile service. Giving is the inherent in living."

Dr. Mays was one of the world's greatest educators and philosophers of education because he applied the Christian conception of human vocation and service to the whole educational process.

 With ringing eloquence and prophetic power, Bennie Mays insisted that                

The search for happiness is an unworthy goal. you go out looking for happiness, you don't know what to look for or where to look. you marry looking for happiness, it is an unworthy aim. People should marry because they love each other; not for happiness, but for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer.

   It is                

Not important that people be happy. Was Moses happy? .... Was Socrates happy? .... Was Jesus happy? .... Was Mahatma Gandhi happy? ....

We argue still further, what right have we to be happy? They tell me half of the people of the earth are starving Why should we have bread enough and to spare while our brother starves? To be personal, who am I? I am no better than my starving brother. Who am I to be happy? But for the grace of God. I, too, might be starving Who am I to ride around in Pullman cars and jets while others starve?                

Where may happiness be found?

If happiness is to be found, it will be found in noble endeavor, endeavor that gives satisfaction and is beneficial to mankind. It will be found in struggling, in toiling, and in accomplishing something worthwhile. Happiness, if it is to be found, will be found in a job well done ....                            

If happiness is to be found, it will be found in pursuing and accomplishing something worth" while, and the quest must be continuous--no complacency and no satisfaction.                

If happiness is to be found, it will be found in noble living A man lives nobly when he has an honest conscience, when he can say: The community is better off because I gave my best to it. I did not exploit people for my personal gain . . .

If happiness is to be found, it will be found when we live more for others than we do for ourselves.                 

Yes, Bennie Mays represents the Kingdom not of this world. The Kingdom not of this world is the Kingdom of God. It is the Kingdom of truth, love, righteousness, human service, social and racial justice and caring--beyond race, color, creed, sex, ethnicity, culture and other boundaries of estrangement.

What greater legacy can a person leave to his loved ones, friends, disciples and fellow human beings than the precious, unique and enduring legacy of Bennie Mays?

You and I must make his vision, legacy and work our own. Because of the death of Bennie Mays, you and I, all of us, must do a little more to promote the cause of excellence, decency, justice, the higher possibilities of history and culture and the Beloved Community of all of God's children. To mind come the words of Micah: "He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

So, our very special Dr. Mays, our beloved Bennie Mays, our "Buck Bennie," who has meant so much to so many, we mournfully and yet with joy, say: Hail, thanks, love and farewell.

 At the time of this writing, Samuel DuBois Cook was President of Dillard University and a member of the executive committee of the Southern Regional Council. Dr. Cook's remarks are excerpted from his eulogy to Dr. Mays.

Excerpts from the eulogy by Samuel DuBois Cook, March 31, 1984.

--From the funeral tribute to Dr. Mays by Hugh M. Gloster, President of Morehouse College.

--Benjamin E. Mays, Born To Rebel (1971).

"Schoolmaster of the Movement:" A Review

Benjamin Elijah Mays:

Schoolmaster of the Movement

 

A Biography

 

By Randal Maurice Jelks

 

Recipient of a Lillian Smith Book Award, presented during the Decatur Book Festival on September 1, 2013

 

Reviewed by Charles S. Johnson

 

 

It was the end of a long hot day in the Nation’s capital on August 28, 1963.  Tens of thousands had gathered from far and wide to urge the passage of a civil rights act.  Just before the climactic rendition of “We Shall Overcome,” the assembled multitude paused for a benediction led by Benjamin Elijah Mays, President of Morehouse College.

Less than five years later, on April 9, 1968, at the end of a hot day in Atlanta, the tens of thousands who had gathered to celebrate the life and mourn the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. paused for a eulogy given by that same Dr. Mays.

Of all the men and women who could have been chosen, how is it that the planners of both of these momentous events turned to the same man to set the proper tone and to find the right words for the occasion?

Randal Maurice Jelks hints at an answer to this question with the subtitle of his Lillian Smith Award-winning biography of Dr. Mays: “Schoolmaster of the Movement,” a phrase which he attributes to Leronne Bennett.  But the hint found in this subtitle only begins to tell the story.  From this book itself we learn that Dr. Mays’ relationship to the civil rights movement went far beyond his role as President of Dr. King’s Alma Mater.  Long before he assumed the leadership of Morehouse College, Dr. Mays had already emerged as a prominent civic and religious leader, public intellectual, and exponent of a progressive social gospel. 

In the 1920s, having co-authored the first sociological study of the black church in the United States, having served as Executive Secretary of the Tampa Urban League, and having served as National Student Secretary of the YMCA, Mays caught the eye of Mordecai Johnson who, like Mays, had studied at the University of Chicago and taught at Morehouse College.  In 1926, Johnson was selected as the first black President of Howard University, and in 1935 Johnson chose Mays to implement his vision of building an accredited School of Religion at Howard that would produce a professional cadre of black clergymen that were fully equipped to lead the black community in confronting the current challenges and the challenges to come. 

Johnson’s banquet address at the School of Religion’s 1935 opening convocation focused on the work of Mahatma Gandhi, which he described as the first time in history that “political power, economic exploitation, and military domination have been challenged by the power of the spirit” and that “’soul force or non-violent coercion’ has been projected into the political area as a technique of the under-privileged for achieving social ends.” 

In 1936, Dean Mays traveled India for an international gathering of the YMCA.  He and his friend Channing Tobias skipped out on tour of the Taj Mahal to secure an interview with Gandhi.  The interview, which lasted for ninety minutes, must have had a profound effect on all of the participants.  In describing the meeting – Mays’ three questions and Gandhi’s prophetic answers - Professor Jelks was able to draw on a variety of sources, including the first-hand accounts of Mays and Gandhi themselves. Following his meeting with Gandhi, Mays visited a school for untouchables, where he was introduced as an American untouchable who had achieved distinction.  Upon returning home to the United States, he wrote an article about his trip for the Journal of Negro Education entitled “The Color Line Around the World,” taking note of racial divides around the globe, from India, to Europe, to Palestine, to South Africa and beyond.

For Jelks, the selection of Mays in 1940 as President of Morehouse College was part of a broader story of thought leadership: from his 1938 publication of The Negro’s God as Reflected in his Literature to his role in the 1943 formation of the United Negro College Fund; from his 1947 lawsuit to dismantle discrimination on the Southern Railway to the 1958 establishment of the Interdenominational Theological Center; from his mentorship of the leaders of the 1960 Atlanta Student Movement to his frequent articles in the Norfolk Journal and Guide and the Baltimore Afro-American, and to My View, his weekly opinion column for the Pittsburgh Courier. 

In Jelks’ telling, the relationship between Mays and King was more than that of mentor and protégé.  Rather, King was a product and an exemplar of Mays’ long campaign to build a professional and committed clergy – a clergy that would play a key role in building movements for social change.  Mays wrote the key endorsement letter in support of King’s application to attend Crozier Seminary, was present for King’s trial sermon, ordained King, explained the Montgomery Bus Boycott to black America in his weekly newspaper columns, and awarded King with his first honorary degree.  Mays was, in Jelks’ words, Kings consigliore – the person to whom King turned time and again “for advice as the politics of the movement became tempestuous and surged onto the streets of America.”

Biographies fall broadly into several categories.  One category includes those works that resemble a chronology of the events in the subject’s life and times.  We can turn to a biography of this type to learn every detail of every significant event of the subject’s lifetime.  This is not the type of biography which Jelks set out to write.  Instead, he has produced an intellectual biography – an extended essay about the significance of Mays’ time on this earth.  It tells us nothing about how Mays handled the financial challenges associated with keeping the doors open for twenty-seven years at one of the nation’s flagship HBCU’s.  It barely mentions Mays' work as President of the Atlanta Board of Education.  These are not the central focus of Jelks’ inquiry.  Instead, Jelks’ work provides an intimate glimpse at the forces that prepared Mays for the type of leadership that he provided; a thoughtful examination of how the Twentieth Century theory of the “talented tenth” worked in actual practice; and a revealing portrait of the purposeful resolve that has consistently animated many of those at the helm of major black institutions.

The role of the college president as “public intellectual” – one who advances the public discourse on issues that shape the direction of a society – is firmly established in this country.  Derek Bok, Kingman Brewster and Leon Botstein are among the more frequently-cited examples.  Randal Maurice Jelks has shown us that this role is not unique to the majority community, and that few college presidents of any ethnicity can match the enduring and far-reaching influence of this president of a small college in Georgia.

 

Join us for the 2016 Lillian Smith Book Awards Ceremony

During the Decatur Book Festival
September 4, 2016

 

 

Benjamin Mays Biography to Receive Lillian Smith Book Award for 2013

Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement

 

A Biography

 

By Randal Maurice Jelks

       

In this biography of Benjamin Mays (1894-1984), Randal Maurice Jelks chronicles the life of the man Martin Luther King Jr. called his "spiritual and intellectual father." Dean of the Howard University School of Religion, president of Morehouse College, and mentor to influential black leaders, Mays had a profound impact on the education of the leadership of the black church and of a generation of activists, policymakers, and educators. Jelks argues that Mays's ability to connect the message of Christianity with the responsibility to challenge injustice prepared the black church for its pivotal role in the civil rights movement.

From Mays's humble origins in Epworth, South Carolina, through his doctoral education, his work with institutions such as the National Urban League, the NAACP, and the national YMCA movement, and his significant career in academia, Jelks creates a rich portrait of the man, the teacher, and the scholar. Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement is a powerful portrayal of one man’s faith, thought, and mentorship in bringing American apartheid to an end.

 

About the Author

 

 

Randal Maurice Jelks is associate professor of American Studies and African American Studies at the University of Kansas and author of African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids.

Reviews

“Jelks helps to bring the “religious dimension” back to the center of the conversation.”
   --History News Network

“A civil rights pioneer gets his due.”
   --Kansas City Star

“Jelks should be applauded for depicting twentieth-century race relations through the eyes of Benjamin Elijah Mays. . .[In doing so] he provides readers with a new perspective on the fight for civil rights.”
   --North Carolina Historical Review

"A compelling biography of one of the most significant leaders in the struggle for African American civil rights in twentieth-century America. . . . An important contribution to better understand the critical role of black colleges and their presidents during the civil rights era."
   --Journal of American History

"Jelks uses Benjamin Mays as a lens through which to view the institutions, ideas, and personalities that sustained black thinkers and theologians during decades of struggle. This book is essential in filling out the picture of African American intellectual and cultural life through much of the twentieth century."
   --Paul Harvey, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

"Jelks demonstrates how this spiritual and intellectual giant reinvigorated the country’s religious faith and brought it to bear on contemporary problems. This compelling assessment of Mays is a powerful and moving tribute and will be taken seriously by scholars and public alike."
   --Orville Vernon Burton, author The Age of Lincoln

 

Join us for the 2013 Lillian Smith Book Awards Ceremony

During the Decatur Book Festival
September 1, 2013

The Southern Regional Council Announces the Lillian Smith Book Award Recipients for 2013

Atlanta - Two exceptional books will be recognized with this year's Lillian Smith Book Awards. These awards were established in 1968 by the Southern Regional Council (SRC) to recognize authors whose books represent outstanding achievements demonstrating through literary merit and moral vision an honest representation of the South, its people, its problems, and its promise.

This year's Forty-fifth Anniversary Awards Ceremony is a partnership between the Southern Regional Council, the University of Georgia Libraries, and the Georgia Center for the Book. It will be presented in connection with the Decatur Book Festival at the DeKalb County Public Library in Decatur, Georgia on Sunday, September 1, 2013 at 2:30 p.m.

The 2013 Award Recipients are:

 

Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement

 

A Biography

 

By Randal Maurice Jelks
       

In this biography of Benjamin Mays (1894-1984), Randal Maurice Jelks chronicles the life of the man Martin Luther King Jr. called his "spiritual and intellectual father." Dean of the Howard University School of Religion, president of Morehouse College, and mentor to influential black leaders, Mays had a profound impact on the education of the leadership of the black church and of a generation of activists, policymakers, and educators. Jelks argues that Mays's ability to connect the message of Christianity with the responsibility to challenge injustice prepared the black church for its pivotal role in the civil rights movement.

From Mays's humble origins in Epworth, South Carolina, through his doctoral education, his work with institutions such as the National Urban League, the NAACP, and the national YMCA movement, and his significant career in academia, Jelks creates a rich portrait of the man, the teacher, and the scholar. Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement is a powerful portrayal of one man’s faith, thought, and mentorship in bringing American apartheid to an end.

 

Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Mississippi Delta after World War II

 

By Françoise N. Hamlin

     

Weaving national narratives from stories of the daily lives and familiar places of local residents, Françoise Hamlin chronicles the slow struggle for black freedom through the history of Clarksdale, Mississippi. Hamlin paints a full picture of the town over fifty years, recognizing the accomplishments of its diverse African American community and strong NAACP branch, and examining the extreme brutality of entrenched power there. The Clarksdale story defies triumphant narratives of dramatic change, and presents instead a layered, contentious, untidy, and often disappointingly unresolved civil rights movement.

 

Following the black freedom struggle in Clarksdale from World War II through the first decade of the twenty-first century allows Hamlin to tell multiple, interwoven stories about the town's people, their choices, and the extent of political change. She shows how members of civil rights organizations--especially local leaders Vera Pigee and Aaron Henry--worked to challenge Jim Crow through fights against inequality, police brutality, segregation, and, later, economic injustice. With Clarksdale still at a crossroads today, Hamlin explores how to evaluate success when poverty and inequality persist.

 

Join us for the 2013 Lillian Smith Book Awards Ceremony

During the Decatur Book Festival
September 1, 2013

"Crossroads at Clarkdsale" to receive Lillian Smith Book Award for 2013

Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Mississippi Delta after World War II

 

By Françoise N. Hamlin
       

     

Weaving national narratives from stories of the daily lives and familiar places of local residents, Françoise Hamlin chronicles the slow struggle for black freedom through the history of Clarksdale, Mississippi. Hamlin paints a full picture of the town over fifty years, recognizing the accomplishments of its diverse African American community and strong NAACP branch, and examining the extreme brutality of entrenched power there. The Clarksdale story defies triumphant narratives of dramatic change, and presents instead a layered, contentious, untidy, and often disappointingly unresolved civil rights movement.

 

Following the black freedom struggle in Clarksdale from World War II through the first decade of the twenty-first century allows Hamlin to tell multiple, interwoven stories about the town's people, their choices, and the extent of political change. She shows how members of civil rights organizations--especially local leaders Vera Pigee and Aaron Henry--worked to challenge Jim Crow through fights against inequality, police brutality, segregation, and, later, economic injustice. With Clarksdale still at a crossroads today, Hamlin explores how to evaluate success when poverty and inequality persist.

 

About the Author

 

Françoise N. Hamlin is the Hans Rothfels Assistant Professor of History and Africana Studies at Brown University.
   

Reviews

 

 

"Exhaustively researched, this book richly details the black struggle for freedom in the Mississippi Delta. . . . Recommended. All academic levels/libraries."

  --Choice          

 

"An impressive, well-written account of the black freedom struggle in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Françoise Hamlin's oral history interviews are terrific, her analysis is thorough, and the story she tells is dramatic."
   --John Dittmer, author of Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

 

"A sweeping, moving, and pathbreaking history of a half century of civil rights activism in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Françoise Hamlin gracefully runs an integrated gender, class, generational, and race analysis throughout the book to permanently shift and transform our understanding of the black freedom struggle. Crossroads at Clarksdale jumps off the page."
   --Annelise Orleck, Dartmouth College

 

"Truly valuable work. This book is as important a contribution to understanding Mississippi’s freedom struggle and to bringing attention to many aspects of the movement as any I know."
   --Charles E. Cobb Jr., originator of the Freedom Schools as a SNCC field secretary, founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists and author of On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail

 

Join us for the 2013 Lillian Smith Book Awards Ceremony

During the Decatur Book Festival
September 1, 2013

A Long and Painful Summer on Issues of Racial Justice

Shelby, Fisher and Trayvon Martin

By Leland Ware

On February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman, a 29 year-old insurance underwriter and a part time student, shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a 17 year-old African American high school student. The homicide was completely unjustified. Martin was unarmed and not breaking any laws. After a long delay, Zimmerman was charged and prosecuted for second degree murder and manslaughter. The jury, on which no African Americans served, found him not guilty on both charges. Zimmerman's acquittal was a travesty of justice. This case shows that there still is a profound racial divide in America. Blacks are treated differently and far less favorably than whites in the criminal justice system.

 

George Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch captain at the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a gated community in Sanford, Florida. Martin was visiting his father who lived in the neighborhood. The events leading to his death began to unfold when Zimmerman noticed Martin returning to the Twin Lakes neighborhood from a local convenience store. Without any evidence other than his race Zimmerman decided Martin was “suspicious.”

Zimmerman called the Sanford police department and said, "We've had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there's a real suspicious guy." He said Martin was "just walking around looking about" in the rain and said, "This guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something." On a recording of the phone call, Zimmerman could be heard uttering under his breath, “Fucking punks…These assholes, they always get away."

About two minutes later, Zimmerman said, "he's running." The 911 dispatcher asked, "He's running? Which way is he running?" The dispatcher then asked Zimmerman if he was following Martin; he answered, "yeah." The dispatcher said "We don't need you to do that” indicating that Zimmerman should stop following Martin. Zimmerman responded, "Okay" but continued to pursue Martin.

Some of the details of what happened next are not clear. Zimmerman told authorities that he lost track of Martin and saw him again when the teen approached him. Phone records show that at approximately 7:10 p.m., Martin was on the phone with a friend, Rachel Jeantel. Marin told her that he was being followed and trying to get away from the man pursuing him.

As they spoke Jeantel interpreted what she heard as an altercation, during which the earpiece fell from Martin's ear cutting off their connection. In a recording of the phone call, a voice could be heard screaming "Help, help!" followed by the sound of a gunshot. During the confrontation Zimmerman shot and killed Martin.

Zimmerman’s Trial

Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder and manslaughter. In Florida, the “unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual, is murder in the second degree.” The laws also state, “the killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification…and in cases in which such killing shall not be excusable homicide or murder…is manslaughter.”

This was a textbook case of racial profiling. Zimmerman assumed Martin was a criminal based entirely on his status as a young black male wearing a hoodie. There was no evidence of any criminal activity. Zimmerman was angry about burglaries in his neighborhood and intent on insuring that Martin did not get away with crimes that existed only in Zimmerman’s imagination.

Zimmerman's dogged pursuit of Martin was "imminently dangerous" and reflected a "depraved mind." Under Florida law a depraved mind means an individual acted with ill will, hatred, spite, or an evil intent. Zimmerman's anger at the“fucking punks" and "assholes" who "always get away" evidenced "spite," "ill will" and a malicious state of mind. This is sufficient proof for a verdict of second degree murder. Premeditation is not required.

Zimmerman claimed he acted in self-defense when he shot Martin. Historically, a person was legally obligated to retreat from an attack and allowed to use deadly force in self-defense only when a safe retreat was not possible. However, under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, a person does not have a duty to retreat if he reasonably believes that deadly force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm.

Zimmerman followed Martin intending to confront him about his presence in the Twin Lakes neighborhood. He was armed with a Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm semi-automatic pistol. The confrontation should have been seen as a provocation. Under Florida law an aggressor has a duty to retreat, but may use force if he reasonably believes that he is in danger of death or severe bodily harm. This defense is available only after all avenues escape have been exhausted. This did not happen in this case. Zimmerman was the transgressor. He persisted in his armed pursuit of Martin after being told not do so.

The jury concluded that the prosecution failed to prove its case. The jurors discounted Zimmerman’s malevolent state of mind when he stalked Martin. Zimmerman was armed, angry and prepared to use deadly force. The jury did not consider this or the threat Zimmerman posed to Martin.

After the trial, one of the jurors said she had "no doubt" Zimmerman feared for his life in the final moments of his struggle with Trayvon Martin, She believed Zimmerman’s "heart was in the right place" the night he shot Martin, but that he didn't use "good judgment." She said "He had a right to defend himself…If he felt threatened, that his life was going to be taken away from him, or he was going to have bodily harm, he had a right." This was an incorrect interpretation of the law.

Zimmerman's heart could not have been in “the right place” when he pursued Martin while armed with a deadly weapon, especially when he continued after being told not to do so by a police dispatcher. At minimum, Zimmerman is guilty of manslaughter. Zimmerman's aggression should have precluded a claim of self defense under the Florida law. Intent to commit a homicide is not required to prove manslaughter. Evidence of "culpable negligence" is all that is required.  

The legal definition of negligence is the failure to exercise a reasonable degree of care which results in an unintended injury to another party. Zimmerman's conduct was negligent. A reasonable person would have foreseen the possibility of an injury resulting from his pursuit of Martin and taken preventive measures. In fact, Zimmerman's conduct went beyond mere carelessness to gross negligence as his actions reflected a reckless disregard for the safety of others. Trayvon  Martin would be alive if Zimmerman had simply obeyed the dispatcher's instructions.

As President Barack Obama observed, “If Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened?” The answer, of course, is no. Martin's death was entirely unjustified and should not have been excused as self-defense. If Martin were white, he would not have been killed.

Shelby County Alabama v. Holder

The Trayvon Martin case was not the only recent setback for African Americans. During the final week of this year's term, the Supreme Court issued decisions that severely undermined important advances made during the Civil Rights Movement. In one case the Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. In the other case the majority went as close as it could to eliminating affirmative action without doing so outright.

On June 25, 2013, the Supreme Court issued the ruling in Shelby County Alabama v. Holder.  In a 5-4 decision, the majority held that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) is unconstitutional because Congress’ 2006 reauthorization relied on outdated evidence. Section 4(b) identifies the jurisdiction covered by Section 5. The Shelby decision means jurisdictions covered under Section 5 are not obligated seek preclearance until Congress enacts a new coverage provision to replace Section 4.

The ruling makes it difficult to combat the discriminatory activities Congress identified in 2006 when it re-authorized the VRA. It also makes it difficult to challenge the voter suppression tactics that were so widespread during the 2012 election. Vigorous efforts must be made to persuade Congress to the reenact Section 4.

Shelby and Section 5

Section 5 of the VRA requires "covered" jurisdictions to seek clearance from the Attorney General or the federal court in Washington D.C. before they make any changes to their voting procedures. During the 1950s and '60s the federal government’s efforts to eliminate discriminatory election practices with court cases were frustrated. As soon as one discriminatory practice was proven to be unconstitutional, a new one would be substituted. To put an end to this, the 1965 Act included preclearance provisions that targeted states where the potential for discrimination was the greatest.

Section 5's coverage formula is contained in Section 4(b). The preclearance requirement originally applied to states and political subdivisions that maintained a "test or device" restricting the opportunity to register or vote on November 1, 1964 and less than 50 percent of persons of voting age were registered to vote. Congress reauthorized the VRA in 1970 and 1975. The Act was extended for 25 years in 1982 and 25 more years in 2006 without any changes to the coverage formula established in the 1970s.

The government argued that the voluminous evidence on which Congress relied in reenacting Section 5 included 15,000 pages of testimony, reports, and data regarding racial disparities in voter registration, voter turnout, and electoral success. Many of these were "second generation" violations that are more subtle but equally effective in denying voting rights.

Nothing was presented to rebut this evidence. However, the majority rejected the government’s argument and held Section 4(b)'s formula relied on outdated evidence from the 1960s and 70s. In the majority's view, the 2006 record did not show the “pervasive,” “flagrant,” “widespread” and “rampant” discriminatory practices that were common in the 1960s. The majority did not strike down Section 5 but it achieved the same result using indirect means. Section 4(b), which identifies covered jurisdictions, was struck down. Without Section 4(b) Section 5 cannot be enforced.

Although the protections against discrimination accorded by Section 2 of the VRA remain intact, states across the country have enacted measures that make it more difficult for racial minorities to exercise their voting rights. Many discriminatory tactics were identified during the 2006 Congressional hearings and new problems have arisen. Efforts to suppress black votes were a centerpiece in the Republican Party’s 2012 election strategy. The coverage provisions of Section 4(b) must be restored to allow the resurrection of Section 5.

Fisher v. University of Texas

On June 24, 2013, the Supreme Court issued the decision in Fisher v. University of Texas. The Court's decision did not disturb the holding in Grutter v. Bollinger, the University of Michigan case which affirmed the constitutionality of affirmative action admissions programs in 2003. However, the case was remanded to the Court of Appeals for a determination of whether University of Texas’ admission process is “narrowly tailored” using a new interpretation that will be difficult to satisfy: Universities cannot consider race in admission decisions unless they can show that race-neutral alternatives would not suffice to achieve student body diversity. Affirmative action in higher education has not been eliminated but it is hanging by a very thin thread.

The challenger in Fisher contended, among other things, that the University of Texas' (UT) race-conscious admissions policies are unconstitutional because adequate consideration had not be given to race-neutral alternatives. Texas' admissions process divides applicants into three groups: Texas residents, domestic nonresidents, and international students. Texas residents are allotted ninety percent of all available seats. Under Texas' Top Ten Percent law, students with grades in the top tenth percentile of their high schools' graduating classes are automatically admitted. Applicants who are not in the top ten percent compete for admission based on their academic and personal achievement indices.

The academic index is based on SAT scores and grades. The personal index is based on a score awarded for two required essays and a "personal achievement score" which represents a "holistic" evaluation of the applicant’s file. This score includes a “special circumstances” element that may reflect the applicant's socioeconomic status, family status and family responsibilities and the applicant’s standardized test score compared to the average at her high school and the applicant’s race.

Under the Fourteenth Amendment the legal standard that applies to governmental policies that classify on the basis of race is "strict scrutiny." To satisfy this requirement, the government must have a "compelling justification" for the classification and the means chosen must be "narrowly tailored" to achieving a legitimate governmental interest.

Race-Neutral Alternatives

In Fisher the Court affirmed Grutter’s ruling that “obtaining the educational benefits of student body diversity is a compelling state interest that can justify the use of race in university admissions.” The case focused instead on the “narrow tailoring” requirement. The Court held that the lower courts applied the wrong analysis when they deferred to UT's judgment regarding the need to consider race in its admissions process. The lower courts also ruled that Fisher was obligated to rebut the presumption that UT acted in good faith. This, the Court found, misallocated the burden of proof.

Fisher obligates universities to show that race-neutral alternatives would not suffice to achieve student body diversity. The Court said "[t]he reviewing court must ultimately be satisfied that no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity.” This means the obligation to show narrow tailoring has been significantly heightened and shifted to universities.

Although it raised the burden of proof, the Court stated that “narrow tailoring does not require the exhaustion of every conceivable race-neutral alternative.” One unanswered question is how much evidence is needed to satisfy the new requirement. Fisher will make it difficult to justify race conscious affirmative action. This is likely generate years of litigation seeking to clarify the meaning of “narrow tailoring."

Conclusion

The not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman prosecution was a travesty of justice. It perpetuates the stereotype of young black men as "suspicious criminals" Their race alone provides cause to believe that criminal activity was about to take place. In the minds of the jurors this justified Zimmerman's stalking Martin and excused his use of deadly force against the unarmed teenager. This shows that there is one standard for young black men and another for everyone else.  The presumption of innocence is reversed. They are assumed to be criminals unless it is proven that they are not.

The Supreme Court’s decisions in Shelby and Fisher reflect the Court's cabined view of the equality rights of minorities. Shelby County was welcomed by those who feel the Voting Rights Act created "special rights" for minorities. Fisher advanced the interests of affirmative action opponents. Shelby and Fisher confirm the Supreme Court’s racial agenda. The majority has seized every opportunity to erode the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement.

About the Author

Leland Ware, a member of the Board of the Southern Regional Council, is Louis B. Redding Chair and Professor for the Study of Law and Public Policy at the University of Delaware.He is the author of numerous publications, and he served as co-editor of the recently-published volume, Choosing Equality: Essays and Narratives on the Desegregation Experience.