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15 <br /> 1 WHEREAS, the Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government had done <br /> 2 nothing to enforce the rulings; and <br /> 3 <br /> 4 WHEREAS, the Congress of Racial Equality [CORE] and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating <br /> 5 Committee [SNCC] sponsored the Freedom Rides and worked in collaboration with the <br /> 6 Nashville Student Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored <br /> 7 People; and <br /> 8 <br /> 9 WHEREAS, the Freedom Riders were inspired by the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation led by <br /> 10 Bayard Rustin and George Houser and co-sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and <br /> 11 the then-fledgling CORE, and like the Freedom Rides of 1961, the Journey of Reconciliation <br /> 12 was intended to test an earlier Supreme Court ruling that banned racial discrimination in <br /> 13 interstate travel; and <br /> 14 <br /> 15 WHEREAS, the Freedom Riders encountered mob violence, fire bombings, and police brutality, <br /> 16 and arrest and incarceration for trespassing, unlawful assembly, violating state and local Jim <br /> 17 Crow laws and other alleged offenses; and <br /> 18 <br /> 19 WHEREAS, President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy called for a <br /> 20 "cooling off period" and condemned the Freedom Rides as unpatriotic because they <br /> 21 embarrassed the nation on the world stage at the height of the Cold War, to which James <br /> 22 Farmer responded, "We have been cooling off for 350 years, and if we cooled off any more, <br /> 23 we'd be in a deep freeze"; and <br /> 24 <br /> 25 WHEREAS, the Freedom Riders persisted in their fight for justice, and eventually their activism, <br /> 26 influenced and changed the landscape of race relations, civil rights and human rights in the <br /> 27 United States; <br /> 28 <br /> 29 NOW THEREFORE, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, on behalf of the <br /> 30 people of Orange County, hereby proclaims May 2021 as Freedom Riders Month in Orange <br /> 31 County in Commemoration of this 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides and in tribute to <br /> 32 the Freedom Riders, the women and men who fought for justice in the United States of <br /> 33 America. <br /> 34 <br /> 35 The 4th day of May, 2021. <br /> 36 <br /> 37 <br /> 38 <br /> 39 Renee Price, Chair <br /> 40 Orange County Board of Commissioners <br /> 41 <br /> 42 A motion was made by Chair Price, seconded by Commissioner Bedford, to approve and <br /> 43 authorize the Chair to sign the proclamation. <br /> 44 <br /> 45 Roll call ensued <br /> 46 <br /> 47 VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> 48 <br /> 49 Chair Price said there is a virtual event on May 5, 2021 commemorating the Freedom <br /> 50 Rides. She said there was also an interview on WCHL yesterday. <br />