Still, there is a shared urgency that something must be done. The day after the conference, in fact, three black teens in Pelion were shot at rndom by two white men in a pickup truck who allegedly had just attended a Confederate flag rally. The need for fighting back is stronger than ever, activists say. Dr. Jan Love, a local organizer, says the conference was an education. This has been a painful experience in understanding that.
Love thinks the next step is building a base, and that takes patience.
It's slow, tough, plodding work. But once it's done it pays off long into the future. That kind of effort will need people who aren't in it to make a buck or make a name, but to make a difference. The Rev. Mackey worries that we have grown complacent since the civil rights struggle of the 60s. We've taken a lot of things for granted and stopped trying to heal the wound.