Digital Extra: Alton Yates on racism, then and now
In this extended Road Scholars interview clip, retired Air Force hero-turned-civil rights leader, Alton Yates, compares racism today and how it was when he participated in civil rights movement demonstrations. On August 27, 1960, a lunch counter demonstration he participated in led to a bloody attack by a white mob. That event is known as Ax Handle Saturday. He explains that although racism today is not as overt as it was when he was a younger man, it is “still alive and well.”
Yates reunited with young Black men whom he had first met in 2009 as part of an oral history project. During intimate conversations recorded in 2023, they talk about navigating the reality of being a Black man in America today.
Watch more of Yates’ story in the four-part digital series, Road Scholars, which showcases conversations that offer hope, inspiration, and a possible roadmap for change.
