Malcolm’s evolution was cut short by rival Black Muslims who murdered him
days after visiting Selma.
As the Selma demonstrations continued, the police jailed 3,000 pro-
testers. A clueless sheriff Clark never understood that each arrest was an
indictment of the police. As the arrests proceeded, Fred Reese, the Voters
League president, prodded his fellow teachers to register to vote, lest they set
a bad example. A hundred teachers defied school officials to march to the
courthouse where Clark shook with anger. The students were thrilled and
gave their teachers a standing ovation. Civil rights workers told each other,
‘Brother, we got a move-ment goin’ onin Selma!’ Once the teachers – the
traditionally conservative black elite – became involved, other groups,
including the undertakers and beauticians, joined the protest.
Weary of electoral shenanigans, a federal judge barred the registrar from
using complicated tests or disqualifying applicants for minor mistakes. The
registrar had to enroll at least a hundred blacks a day when the office was
open. For the first time, local officials would be violating the law if blacks
were kept from registering. Responding to the ruling, officials offered an
‘appearance book’ in which blacks could sign up for registration appoint-
ments on a first-come, first-served basis when the office was closed. SCLC
leaders smelled a rat, calling the plan just another trick to deny black rights
because the appointment book would not speed black registration in any
appreciable way. Other changes were needed, SCLC argued, including a six-
day schedule for the registrar’s office, branch offices for registration, black
deputy registrars, and the elimination of all voting requirements except min-
imum age and local residence.
When the appearance book gambit failed, the sheriff went after 165 high
school protesters carrying signs reading, ‘JIM CLARK IS A CRACKER.’ When
the students would not disperse from the courthouse, Clark sent them on a
three-mile forced march out of town. To move the panting students faster,
the deputies stung them in the groin with electric prods. One deputy
shouted, ‘March, dammit, march! You want to march so bad, now you can
march. Let’s go!’ Some exhausted teenagers vomited by the roadside. When
a 15-year-old reminded a guard that ‘God sees you,’ the guard clubbed the
boy in the mouth. Appalled, public safety director Baker retrieved some
injured children, explaining, ‘I’m human, too.’
The following day, sheriff Clark complained of chest pains stemming
from the demonstrations and checked into a hospital. He told a reporter that
‘the niggers are givin’ me a heart attack.’ The demonstrators knelt and prayed
in the rain for Clark’s full recovery ‘in mind as in body,’ as one sign read.
Clark recovered physically, but left the hospital wearing a badge that read,
‘NEVER!’ Sensing Clark might come mentally unglued, the Reverend C.T.
Vivian baited the sheriff by comparing him with Hitler. An apoplectic Clark116 THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT