I just learned of the passing this month of John Perkins, a Mississippi church leader and Civil Rights icon who was a friend of my parents.
Born in 1930, John fled Mississippi at 17 after a town marshal murdered his older brother. But he courageously returned in 1960 to start a reconciliation ministry there.
I recall hearing his sometimes harrowing and always inspiring stories over coffee after dinner at our home. In 1969 he tried to bail out protesters who had organized a boycott of White businesses in Simpson County, Mississippi, because of their refusal to hire Blacks.
John told us (and the linked story details) how the cops beat him up, kicking him all over the floor. They cut his hair with dull scissors and stuck a fork up his nose. The torture caused him to suffer a heart attack. Longer term, the experience left him with ulcers, and part of his stomach had to be removed.
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The Elephant Box 