Thomas M. Barrett: “he said, I do not think your prayers even get above your head. That is one of the things that the deputy sheriff said. I…”

“he said, I do not think your prayers even get above your head. That is one of the things that the deputy sheriff said. I was struck by how calm this young man was, and as I was watching this, I was thinking, I wonder whatever happened to this guy? How can this guy be so calm? I wonder what happened to him the rest of his life? So we got off the bus and went in the church, and we were greeted by some of the people that had been involved, and lo and behold, one of the people was this guy, and he got up and told the story from his perspective. And my question was, what was going through your mind at the time? And I said, what was going through your stomach at the time? The thought that you could do this with this guy who just obviously hated him so much, and he was able, again with an incredibly peaceful disposition; the exchange ended when he said, well, is my quarter not worth as much as your quarter? And the deputy sheriff said, I do not want anything to do with your quarter, and get out. Just to talk to this young man who is no longer a young man, he is now in his forties and is still involved in trying to get people voting. Probably one of the saddest parts of this experience for me was coming home the next day and going to visit a high school in my district, and bringing up this visit that I had, and asking the kids if they knew what the Selma-Montgomery march was all about.…”