In the 1960s jim crow south, black people were living under a social, political, economic and emotional clampdown comparable to the worst third world conditions of modern times. Everybody knows it was horrible back in those times.

But Let's look at the headlines of today, down in Florida, governor ron de santis is trying to outlaw not only the teaching of critical race theory but of any black history at all. The denial of black history, culture and even language was an indignity placed on African slaves to reinforce their servitude, to make it harder to rebel against their circumstances, and we can see this tactic being used today by american fascists.

This comic tells the story of Martin Luther King, who came to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association, which organized a city wide bus boycott,which showed not only the unity, but the economic importance of black citizens, and helped chip away at the jim crow laws that eroded the freedom and security of all people, not just blacks. This book inspired the first lunch-counter sit-ins that became Freedom Summer, and a person could indeed be murdered in 1964 for supporting voting rights.

There were 250,000 copies published in English and 125,000 Spanish copies published1958, many were destroyed because it could be dangerous to be caught with one.

This isn't a nostalgic book about somebody else's happy days, this is a serious comic book about the racial history and traditions that have been foundational to the united states since before any person alive today was born.  We're still living with the end result of racial laws made 100 years ago, and that's an objective fact, not conspiracy theory .

Fifty - five years after Freedom Summer when people died to extend voting rights to all citizens we're seeing not only the resurgence of groups willing to kill to suppress voting rights, but openly doing it with the support of a noticeable minority that includes members of the government, police and the military

This is still a dangerous book that tells some uncomfortable truths about some of the foundational untruths of america which are still censored in school books. Let's all try to take this comic as an inspiration, and please contact your senators and representatives and encourage them to support voting rights and educational freedom.

Please be as vocal and politically active as you can be during this important election year. The Fellowship Of Reconciliation who originally published these books is actively involved in voter registration, please see their website and contribute.