January 13th, 2021

By Juliana Silva

2020: A year of chaos and turmoil. From a lethal pandemic to a critical election to protests over racial issues that have far passed their boiling point in America, the start of the new decade can be summarized in one word: Change. 

I had the opportunity to sit down (figuratively speaking, of course, as we were on Zoom) and have a conversation with Nell Braxton Gibson, a civil rights activist that has been a powerful influence in movements towards racial equality throughout the world. Born in the South of the United States during the peak of the Civil Rights era, Mrs. Braxton Gibson has lived through several historical events that have shaped the country we live in today. 

We have all learned about the Civil Rights movement, about how leaders like Dr. King Jr and Rosa Parks fought against the boundaries that were pushed against them by a racist society. I asked Mrs. Gibson how her childhood was growing up in a segregated America.

“My mother would always tell me to go to the bathroom before leaving home, and never in public, segregated restrooms.” Gibson explains. “She didn’t want me to turn against a whole race of people, or grow up with the feeling like there’s something wrong with me.”

But there is only so much a parent can avoid before the truth comes out. Gibson discusses how several events marked her young adulthood and her experience with segregation. One of them was her boyfriend at the time being shot, and unable to go to the hospital as the “colored” ambulances were not available. He passed away, while the white ambulances sat at the hospital, unused.

“People were intentionally not servicing Black people who needed help, that’s the thing.”

At the age of 19, Gibson got involved with the Student Movement of Civil Rights, and took action through mass demonstrations and other forms of protests. I asked her if she could shed some light on how her fight for justice differs from the current Black Lives Matter movement now. 

“It was an extremely disciplined movement,” she said, referring to the Student Movement. Gibson describes how their meetings would always begin and end with prayer, and how music and song fueled the movement. They signed an oath to nonviolence, and had established regulations on who would speak to the press and who would protest on the streets.

One big difference, Gibson explains, is the influence of media and television. When you post something on social media, it’s impossible to control who comes and what they do, and you lose the aspect of discipline that was so crucial to the original Civil Rights movement. So, although nowadays the movement has a much larger crowd due to media representation, it is also much harder to control and have everyone on the same page.

“What does seem to be very much the same is that it’s youth led,” Gibson notes, “and I think youth changed the world. It was the youth of my day who made the changes, it is the youth of today who make the changes.”

Gibson also claims that she was part of the “Emmet Till” generation, referring to the lynching of a young Black boy that sparked so many people to get involved in the Civil Rights movement. I wonder if perhaps we will be referring to ourselves as the “George Floyd” generation, or the “Breonna Taylor” generation in the future. I wonder if there will ever be a generation that is not defined by the murder of Black people.

Gibson and I also discussed her experience with voter suppression in the South, and how she took action in registering first time Black voters before she could even vote herself. In our most recent election we’ve seen an incredible turnout from Black voters. Since 2018, it is estimated that 800,000 new people have been registered to vote in Georgia, with nearly half being people of color. I asked Gibson what she thinks of this, and why she thinks caused this new wave of new voters.

“I think the 800,000 new voters in Georgia witnessed what happened to Stacey Abrams when she ran for governor,” answered Gibson. “How votes were discounted, some of them couldn’t be found… those misdeeds were exposed. And then Abrams herself began to organize people on the ground to make sure that as many people who were eligible to vote had the opportunity.”

Gibson then discusses how COVID also played a crucial role in this election. With people being stuck at home watching television and consuming media all day, watching a president who did little to stop the pandemic, watching the economy fall, watching a Black man lose his life in eight minutes, with no one coming to his aid…

“And it all suddenly clicked. People said ‘This has got to stop.'”

Many people were surprised to see the way Georgia played out in this election. The phrase that Georgia “flipped” blue has been tossed around several times, but Gibson shares her own view on the results of the state’s election. 

“I would say it’s actually purple,” Gibson chuckles. “I think it is less about flipping the state, and more about people who didn’t have the opportunity in the past finally having that opportunity and acting on it.”

The story is still being written, and it is people like Stacey Abrams that have uncovered some of the truths about Black voting in Georgia. Black women have continuously carried the vote for the Democratic party, and are continuously the backbone of our electoral system. Gibson notes that this makes her feel great, as a Black woman, and that in history, the “men have gotten so much attention…” There’s no doubt about that.

Gibson also remarks that 2020 has highlighted how far we as a society still must go to achieve true racial equality. She claims she doesn’t expect to see true equality in her lifetime, but expects somebody of her ethnic background to feel it in the future.

“It’s like we’ve been on this relay race ever since the Middle Passage,” says Gibson. “Constantly passing the baton from generation to generation, each time getting closer and closer to our goal, until someday we may finally reach the finish line.”

But all this struggle hasn’t been in vain. Gibson claims she never expected to see the first Black president, or the end of Apartheid. She remains hopeful by seeing the strides of her people and an increase in representation, from Reverend Warnock being the first Black senator elected from Georgia, to John Lewis being elected in Congress, to several other Black politicians having a voice. 

“I am a person of faith,” says Gibson, “and to have hope is to have faith.” 

This interview was conducted on the morning of January 6th, prior to the events that unfolded at Capitol Hill.