Today’s migrants in Martha’s Vineyard are now being transported to the same Cape Cod military base that housed the “Reverse Freedom Riders” decades ago. It was all part of the so-called Reverse Freedom Rides, arranged by White segregationists in 1962 in retaliation for the Freedom Rides of the previous summer, when Black and White volunteers rode buses through the South supporting desegregation. The Reverse Freedom Rides ended up backfiring politically, Webb argued, because even “moderate” segregationists were put off by the “cynical manipulation” of poor African Americans. AdvertisementIn the end, only about 200 people were sent on Reverse Freedom Rides — far fewer than the thousands of migrants who have been transported north to D.C., New York and now Massachusetts in the past few months. There is one big difference between the migrant transports now and the Reverse Freedom Rides of 60 years ago.

Source: Washington Post September 17, 2022 07:53 UTC