Latest news with #Simpkins
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Focused initiatives have successfully impacted women in trucking
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women made up 14.7% of the total workforce in transportation and material moving occupations in 2004. Since then, the transportation industry has made massive strides in encouraging women to pursue careers in a variety of roles, from professional CDL driving to supply chain management. Elizabeth Simpkins, National Underwriting Officer for Inland Marine Specialized Risk for Travelers Insurance, says that there has been tremendous growth in women joining the industry in the past two decades. By 2014, the percentage of women in transportation and material moving occupations had risen to 15.7%.1 'Within that group, we started to see data on women driving specifically being measured, which gives us a better picture of how the landscape is changing,' Simpkins said. In 2014, women made up 5.8% of truck drivers.1 By 2024, 21.7% of all those transportation and material moving occupations were held by women,1 and driver roles specifically held by women now account for 7.9%.1 What factors are making more women decide that trucking is an occupation they'd like to pursue? Simpkins says there are a lot of reasons for this growth. 'People and organizations are coming at this from all angles,' Simpkins said. 'You might be surprised at how much effort has been put into getting women interested in transportation, even for the very young.' One example is an initiative specific to women in trucking, called 'Trucks are for Girls,' a program sponsored by the Girl Scouts. 'This program teaches girls about careers in the trucking industry by giving them access to driving simulators, showing them how to operate trucks,' Simpkins said. 'Young women can hear from engineers and talk about day-to-day jobs in the field, giving them hands-on experience so they can see everything that goes into working with these trucks and the equipment.' Another driver of this trend, Simpkins says, is education. 'More women getting into the workforce naturally increases their prevalence in a variety of roles and industries,' she said. 'Supply chain management as a career path is a growing field for everyone, and both men and women are pursuing that.' At the university level, supply chain education is more available now than it's ever been. According to Data USA, a source for government records, there were only seventy public universities that offered a four-year degree in supply chain management in 2012. Just ten years later, in 2022, that number had risen to 159. Many universities and community colleges are also offering two-year degrees in logistics, as well as training for Class A CDLs. There are now a variety of options available to American women to pursue careers in the transportation field. 'The number of grants and scholarships available are just making this industry that much more accessible,' Simpkins said. 'Rather than just falling into logistics or trucking as may have been the case before, women who want to plan their future are now actively seeking a career path in transportation.' 'Aside from higher education, there are a number of resources actively promoting women's involvement in the field,' Simpkins said. Women in Trucking and the American Trucking Associations, Simpkins says, play a huge role. According to Simpkins, there's now more general awareness about openings in the transportation field. 'We're encouraging women in all stages of their careers, which helps them get involved deeply with some of the challenges that face the industry,' Simpkins said. Unfortunately, women still face many challenges in trucking. 'Truck stop safety has been one big issue for a while and continues to be one,' Simpkins said. 'Many women feel vulnerable at truck stops because they might be poorly lit, they often don't have robust security in parking lots, and issues like that can make anybody feel unsafe.' Restroom and shower access is also a concern, Simpkins says, as many locations still lack female-focused amenities. Women in Motion is working with Trucker Path in that regard, and that's just one of the initiatives that's helping women in trucking. 'Over 100 truck stops and counting have joined this effort to address the concerns of women on the road, and that's received a lot of good feedback,' Simpkins said. The Trucker Path mobile app has now added features to help women identify and locate facilities with specific safety amenities and facilities that are ranked highly by women who are on the road. 'If you're a woman who's interested in the trucking industry, there are so many roles where you can fit,' Simpkins said. 'It's important to let young women know that you don't just have to be a driver if that doesn't interest you. There are a lot of paths within the industry,' she said. Click here to learn more about Travelers Inland Marine. US Bureau of Labor Statistics The post Focused initiatives have successfully impacted women in trucking appeared first on FreightWaves.
Washington Post
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
He stayed at American for his legacy, his future — and the free parking
If there was a runway that led toward American's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014, it would stretch across the Eagles' 22-win season. Its start could be found well before their romp in the Patriot League championship game against Navy and the electric atmosphere that filled Bender Arena that night, and even before those summer workouts when everything felt possible but nothing was promised. The first hint of a solid surface, an indication that this season might end with a takeoff, happened at a dinner in April. Eagles Coach Duane Simpkins invited graduate student Matt Rogers and his girlfriend out for Tex-Mex. Rogers, who already had established himself as a Patriot League standout, was listening to offers from other schools. An ACC program with a recent history of making the Big Dance had pledged him 'life-changing money,' according to his dad. American, a program that hadn't even made its conference tournament championship game in a decade, could basically offer a promise that he wouldn't get a parking ticket on campus, as well as an occasional free meal. 'We told him we would try to,' Simpkins said when asked how the Eagles countered other programs' financial incentives. 'We took care of their parking. The seniors, the guys who have cars on campus, we took care of their parking. The biggest thing we sold to him was relationships that you have here, the networking opportunities. I told him, 'Hey, I'll take you out to dinner every now and then.' But other than that …' Not much? Well, that's not exactly true. After Rogers returned to AU for his fifth and final year of eligibility, he was rewarded with the freedom to dance goofily while surrounded by strangers — as well as a moment he'll cherish for the rest of his life, when he put on a hat that read 'CHAMPIONS' and cried freely with his father. More than a five-figure payday, Simpkins pitched the one thing money couldn't buy Rogers: a lasting legacy. 'I've been dreaming about this since I was in second grade,' Rogers said. 'I've been here for … five years now. All the time and effort we put into this, finally panning out.' Last week, after American secured a 74-52 win over Navy and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament — the Eagles will face Mount St. Mary's in a First Four game Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio — Rogers could reflect on the decision he made a year ago. At the time, he might not have foreseen this kind of payoff. And though Simpkins can be quite the visionary, not even he could have assured Rogers that American would finally get over the conference tournament hump. So Simpkins didn't sell a dream. Instead, over chips and red salsa, Simpkins spoke honestly about Rogers's role at American, his future in basketball and the unforeseen risks of joining another program. 'Matt's going to play professional basketball,' Simpkins said. 'One of the biggest selling points was I've been there before. They're not going to look back at your junior year and say, 'Oh, he was good at American.' They're going to look at what you did most recently.' Who really knows what might have been? Maybe Rogers could've gone to that Power Five school, played as a starter, impressed pro scouts and made some quick cash while doing so. Or Rogers could've gone to a bigger program, spent his last year as a glue guy — glued to the sideline — and experienced the downside of becoming a semipro. No agent popping up in a player's DMs, no collective promising lucrative deals will warn a 20-something that, once people know how much you make, you could become a pariah to a fan base with bloated expectations — or just a living, breathing parlay to bettors. Illinois star Coleman Hawkins transferred to Kansas State after receiving a name, image and likeness deal that was reportedly worth $2 million. After his team's loss in the Big 12 tournament last week, Hawkins wept bitterly. The more he choked out words to reporters and spoke through tears, the clearer the source of his anguish. To some fans, Hawkins did not live up to the money, so they felt empowered to consistently inform him of their disappointment. 'I feel like I did a poor job of letting people talk about me,' Hawkins said. 'It affected my play.' When Oumar Bello transferred from Arizona to Indiana, initial reports linked him to a deal of around $1.2 million. Ballo underwhelmed and, similar to K-State, his team failed to get to the NCAA tournament. During Indiana's loss to Oregon in the Big Ten tournament, a downtown Indianapolis arena filled with Hoosiers turned against Ballo, raining down boos. Just like Hawkins, Ballo opened up after his team's loss and railed against the enemies in crimson and cream who posed as fans. 'You lose one game or two games, next thing you know, your DMs are crazy — like, death wishes and death threats,' Ballo said. 'At the end of the day, we are human beings. We have feelings, you know. Just like you. You wake up, go to work and someone is wishing nothing but the worst to you and your work. It is mentally draining.' In contrast, there was Rogers: winning Patriot League tournament MVP honors, dancing in a mosh pit, hugging his father and telling him, 'I love you.' 'Proud,' Dave Rogers said, tears still reddening his eyes. 'He worked all [five years] and culminating in this,' he said, motioning to the net cutting about to happen behind him, 'I'm just overwhelmed.' This is not to advocate for college kids to take the free parking and turn down the cash with the promise that, magically, everything will work out. Athletes such as Rogers should seek fair compensation for their work. Yet in many cases, a player's fit in a program can weigh more in the long term than the possibility of getting highly paid to wear a target for five months. 'Only one I had to convince was this knucklehead right here,' Simpkins said, gesturing to Rogers, while responding to a question about how quickly he turned to re-recruiting his players last year. 'There were some quote-unquote bigger leagues, bigger schools that were coming after him. It's the way it is now; they go through back channels to try to gauge your interest and everything. Matt and I sat down and had dinner up the street, and I told him, 'Look, don't take the short-term, quote-unquote riches.' This guy is going to play professionally for a number of years, and I told him: 'You've earned the right to put yourself in position to play as long as you possibly can. Put yourself in position to where your first contract can be based off an illustrious fifth year, putting a banner up, getting to the NCAA tournament. Your value would be much, much higher than going to a Power Five school and playing 10 to 12 minutes.' No knock on [Rogers], but he knew his role here. He was going to possibly an unknown somewhere else. I'm glad we held him.' Rogers chose to stay. And not just for the free parking. He had a runway waiting for him at American. 'I know what we had here, know what we were building and then trusting the coaching staff,' Rogers said. 'They trusted in me so much, they believed in my path, and we're on top now. So I'm a winner — that's all I can say.'
BBC News
21-02-2025
- BBC News
Drink-driver who had taken cocaine jailed for killing mum-of-two
A drink-driver who drove into a tree and killed his passenger while high on cocaine has been jailed for more than seven Simpkins, 39, of Alexandra Road, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, lost control of his friend's BMW just after midnight on 3 January last passenger, mother-of-two Gemma Whitehead, 38, died at the scene after the car veered off the road and hit a the scene, Simpkins was heard to say: "I've killed my friend. I'm a murderer." Lincoln Crown Court heard on Friday that Mrs Whitehead had been driving her husband's BMW but had allowed Simpkins to drive for about five minutes after having problems with her crash happened in Cliffe View, South Rauceby. Most of the damage was to the passenger side of the car, leaving Simpkins with only minor injuries. No full driving licence Prosecutor David Eager said Simpkins accepted he had been drinking lager and had taken cocaine at about 17:00 GMT the day pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit for part of his plea he also accepted that he had cocaine in his system and had never held a full driving Heath, in mitigation, said Simpkins had driven for just five minutes. He had been abusing both drink and drugs after the breakdown of a relationship, and his relationship with his son would now suffer."There is absolutely nothing he can say which can help or solve this terrible wound," Mr Heath Whitehead's mother read out an victim impact statement, and said to Simpkins: "You simply cannot imagine the trauma you have caused."Mrs Whitehead's husband, Mark, said in a statement read out by Mr Eager that the fatal crash had led him to turn down a new career in New Zealand and end up £17,000 in debt."He's completely ruined my life and the children will now grow up without their mother," he added. Recorder Jacob Hallam KC said it was clear that Mrs Whitehead was a much loved daughter, sister, mother and wife."There were plans for them to relocate and start new lives far away in New Zealand," he said."None of those plans or such other plans they had for Gemma will now ever come to pass as a result of what you did."Simpkins was jailed for seven years and four was also banned from driving for seven years and told he must pass an extended test before he can apply for a licence. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
MLK gave this speech in Shreveport in 1958
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Shreveport in August 1958, Shreveport resident and civil rights activist Dr. C. O. Simpkins did more than just attend the voter drive at Galilee Baptist Church where King spoke. Simpkins also recorded King's speech. And it now it appears that Simpkins' recording may be the earliest recording of a speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mik Barnes, a graduate student at LSU Shreveport and a Caddo Parish Civil Rights Heritage Trail research team member, has written a detailed history of why King came to Shreveport. Our team recommends reading Barnes' article before reading King's speech, which is below. Why MLK came to Shreveport in 1958 'Distinguished (?) and associates, my Christian friends. I need not cause to say how very delighted I am to be here this evening, and to be a part of this occasion. I have long wanted to come to Shreveport, and I have long admired the courageous work that is being done here. And so to be here, and to see it firsthand, and to meet the citizens of this community, is a great privilege and a great opportunity for me. I want to commend the leaders of this community, and the leaders of your Christian association here, for the great work that has already been done and the great work that will be done in the future. I want to commend these ministers. I have had the good fortunate of working with many of your ministers in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and it is a great honor and a great privilege to work with them and to see that dedication and that devotion to the cause of freedom. Then I've had the good fortune of working with Dr. Simpkins, also in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. I haven't lived very long, but in the few years that I have lived, I've met quite a few people. And I can say to you this sincerely, that Dr. Simpkins is one of the most dedicated, devoted persons that I know in this whole area of freedom and civil rights. Lost history: Triple bombing at Lake Bistineau in 1962 Then I want to say this, too. I say it because I think it needs to be said. Dr. Simpkins is a unique person in the sense that he doesn't have to do what he does. He's relatively comfortable, I imagine. He's a professional man. And some of our professional people get in comfortable positions and they forget about the master. 'But I've seen him, time and time again, leave his office, leave a day's work when he could make a good sum of money–close his office to come to meetings with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and help men and women solve problems that they are facing every day. And I think this is a commendable thing, and something that you should be proud of, in having a man like that in your community. 5 key moments in Northwest Louisiana's civil rights history Again, I want to say God be praised for your ministers. I can remember several months ago when you started out in the bus struggle. And I can remember the ministers going to the busses–I don't know how it happened, but last night I just picked up an old magazine and opened that magazine and saw the picture of a bus. And I looked at that bus and I saw the face of my good friend, the ? sitting up on that bus on the front seat. And I said this is courage and this is what it will take in this struggle. And I'm also grateful to see people in other surrounding communities, and to be in their presence–the people who came today for the workshop on registration and voting. This is one of the most important things that we can do. In this hour, I am convinced that one of the most important steps a Negro can take is that short walk into the voting booth. And in such workshops and institutes we are able to get some of the techniques over and try to organize a community, getting them ready for this big job ahead. And so we hope to continue in that, and I hope you will give this organization your support, your local organization here, and other organizations through the state. Just this afternoon the groups wanted to think of coming together a little more in the various parishes and Brother Coleman was elected chairman of that group–a courageous man himself, a heroic man. And this is gonna make for a great deal of united action in this area. I hope you will give them your wholehearted support and that you will support us in our whole South-wide struggle, and that Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Now I'm not gonna talk specifically this evening in the area of registration and voting. I want to talk about some of our general problems and touch on registration and voting here and there. I want to use, as a subject, what Negroes can learn from history. One of the most obvious facts of human existence is the fact that no individual, or no group, is isolated or detached. Every individual is a part of a continuing process. And one of the unique things about man is that he can comprehend the process. Man has a history, and because of that he can meditate on the past, and project his vision to the uncertainties of the future. Providence Academy: One of Shreveport's first Black educational institutions This is man's uniqueness: that he can look back and learn and think about the past, and that he can look forward and meditate on the future. I imagine this is why Shakespeare could have Hamlet say, 'What a piece of work is man! How noble in faculty, how infinite reason, in forme and moving and expressive and admirable. In action, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals.' This is man. You can't say that about animals. You can't say that about dogs and cats and monkeys and horses. They have no sense of history. You will never see a group of animals thinking about the past and looking into the future, worrying about its uncertainties; but man is unique. Man is made in the image of God so he has a history. And so he can reach back and study the facts of the past and use them to charter a meaningful course for the future. Ephriam David Tyler: Shreveport civil rights poet born in 1884 And so tonight I want to discuss with you some of the lessons of things that we can learn if we can only look back and think about history. Some of the things that we can learn from the long, unfolding processes of the century. Something that we learn from man's long struggle to adjust himself to his environment–something that we can learn from man's long struggle to adjust himself to the will of Almighty God, lessons that we can learn from history. And I think if we can learn some of these lessons, they will serve as a guide for us in the future and they can help us understand the present. Now I think the first thing that we, as Negroes, should learn from history is this: that privileged groups never give up their privileges without strong resistance. This is a part of the long story of history. Look back to the distance days of Egypt at its height, and look at the children of Israel, trying to get out of the bondage of slavery. And you see a lesson there that privileged groups have hardened hearts, they have to be plagued a great deal before they give up that privilege. And even when the Red Sea opens, they will even venture to go out there and bring oppressed people back under the yoke of oppression. Lost history: Reverend M.M. Flynn and the South's first voter drives Privileged groups never give up their privileges without strong resistance. And if we understand this lesson of history, we will understand what is happening all over the South today. The White man is not defending what he thinks is morally right. He is defending what he believes is economically profitable. What the White South is fighting for today is to maintain its privileges. There was a time that some sincere men, I image, dreamed of dreams back in 1896, and they had the dream in their minds that some such strange phenomenon of separate but equal could be a reality. And so they rendered a decision–the Plessy Vs. Fergeson decision. And after 1896 the years unfolded, and everything was centered toward the sun but never was there a real move toward the east. What happened was that men failed to see that separate can never be equal because the fact of separate itself came into being to make things unequal. And the system of segregation came into being to maintain the privileges of the majority group. This is the purpose of segregation: The purpose of segregation is that the segregator will remain on top and the segregated will remain on the bottom. That's the purpose of it. That's why it came into being. Prince's family lived in Cotton Valley, Louisiana for generations; here's their story And all of the resistance that we find today in the South is an attempt to maintain a privileged position. And history teaches us that, and the strange thing is that the individuals who seek to maintain this privileged position never realize that God made this world in a certain way. He made it in a certain interrelatedness, which means that whatever effects one individual directly effects all indirectly. Which means as Booker Washington discovered years ago that you can't keep a man down in the valley without staying down there yourself. This world is (?) and we are made to live together. That is an interrelatedness in reality. God made it that way. And so when you hurt me, you hurt yourself. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. So long as there is poverty in the world, I can never be rich even if I have opinions of it. So long as diseases are rampant, and hundreds and thousands and millions of people cannot expect to live more than 28 or 30 years, I can never be totally healthy–even if I just got a checkup at Mayo Clinic. John Donne called it years ago, and he could cry out 'No man is an island entirely by itself–every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.' Then he could end in saying that any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind, therefore never pretend to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee! And the oppressor never sees us, and he goes his merry way trying to maintain his privileged position, never realizing that in doing so he hurts himself just as he hurts others–that's one of the lessons in history. There is another lesson that history teaches and we can learn from. It is this: freedom is never gained without a determined struggle, coupled with a willingness to suffer and sacrifice. In this naughty world, men got mixed up and theologians say they failed. They call it the fall of man, and they talk about original sin. Now I'm not out to go into any theological doctrines here, but the doctrine of original sin reminds us that men do have a little evil in them, and that they can be bad, and so as well a little naughty. And because of that oppressors never come up to the oppressed people and say 'I thought about this thing and I'm gone give you your freedom now.' They don't do it voluntarily. Booker T. Washington spoke at Coleman College in Gibsland before it moved to Shreveport Maybe they would have done it voluntarily in that phase you sometimes think of when man lived by the will of God, but he is a fallen creature now. And so it just doesn't happen that way. It only comes through the persistent efforts and the hard work of dedicated individuals. You know there are approximately two billion, 500 million people in this world. And the vast majority of them are colored people, just like you and me. They're colored people. About 1 billion, 600 million of them live on two continents–Asia and Africa. 600 million in China. Four hundred million in India and Pakistan. Two hundred million in Africa. One hundred million in Indonesia, more than 86 million in Japan. Yes, most of these people have been dominated politically, exploited economically, segregated, humiliated by some foreign power. And most of them have gained independence. Now, about a billion three hundred million of this billion six hundred million have their freedom and their independence today. Never forget that it wasn't given to them on a silver platter. It came through their struggles, it came through their persistent work, it came through their constant agitation. It wasn't handed out. We can learn something from that. Booker T. Washington High School's place in Shreveport Civil Rights history I remember very vividly, about a year ago I had one of the great experiences of my life. Mrs. King and I had journeyed over to Africa to what was in the Gold Coast for the Independence Celebration. I never will forget that night, about midnight when about a hundred thousand people stood in an open field, in front of the house of parliament, and at that moment we watched an old flag come down. It was a Union Jack flag, and we watched a new flag going up–it was the flag of the Nation of Ghana. A little Black man mounted a platform by the name of Kwame Nkrumah, and he looked out across that vast crowd of people and said, 'I declare to you, that our nation is now independent and a free nation.' When he declared that, I looked out and my ears were open and I could hear Black boys and Black girls, old men and old women crying, 'Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!' And at that moment, tears began to flow from my eyes. To my right was standing my wife, and to my left was standing Congressman Adam Powell, and as I looked around at them I saw tears rolling from their eyes. This was a great moment. Then I looked over at Adam Powell and said, 'Adam this means something. This represents something. And we must never forget something that we must take home.' It should remind us that freedom is a costly thing, and it never comes without suffering and sacrifice. We must never forget that little Black man who mounted that platform had on a little cap. And it was a cap that he had worn for months and months while in prison. He went to jail for that freedom. We must never forget that hundreds of people spilled their blood on the shores of this nation that we are free today. They suffered and sacrificed for that freedom, went to jail for it, and some of them died for it. Nkrumah is now a popular man in this world, leading the second most populous nation in this world. Neru spent years of his life in a British jail. Mahatma Gandhi spent years of his life in a British jail. We must never forget this lesson in history. Now I'm afraid that some of us are forgetting this. We feel that it is just gonna roll in on the wheels of inevitably, and so we sit down by the wayside and do nothing. It doesn't happen that way. Complex mapping project gives Shreveport civil rights historians the ability to see much bigger picture Years ago, a man lived in England by the name of (Charles) Darwin and he developed what is known as the theory of evolution. But Darwin's theory applied only to the biological realm, and he conceived that man, biologically, is moving up from some type of animal existence now to his present state of personality. There was another man who had lived in England and had read the works of Darwin, and he tried to apply this concept to the whole of society. And so men came to believe that progress was inevitable. Somehow men thought that things are just evolving to a better state, and so you don't have to do anything–they're just gonna do it anyway. But history has proven that that just isn't true. Human progress is never inevitable. It only comes through the tireless work and persistent efforts of dedicated individuals. It's not a process of sitting down, waiting. You've gotta do something about it. You remember when the children of Israel got out of Egypt, and they got out in the wilderness and they sent some spies out in the promised land to see how it looked and what the conditions were. The spies came back and reported, and they said there were giants in the land, and it's gonna be hard to get in there because giants are in the land. Then Caleb and Joshua went over, and (they) came back with what was the minority report. And they said yes, there are giants in the land. But in spite of that we feel that we can possess the land. Now as a result of this, three groups emerged. Three groups developed that Moses had to deal with. After they discovered that it was gonna be hard, and there were giants in the land, three groups developed that Moses had to deal with. One group wanted to go back to Egypt. They wanted to go back to Egypt. They preferred the flesh parts of Egypt to the challenges of the promised land. Now there are some people today who have so conditioned themselves to the system of segregation and discrimination that they want to stay down even to the segregation. This is happening to people. Maxine Prescott Sarpy: Shreveport civil rights movement royalty When I was living in Atlanta years ago, I remember going in an area and there was a man that used to play the guitar. He would play it over and over again, and one day I stopped and I heard him saying something and I discovered what he was saying. He was singing, 'Been down so long, don't bother me.' And I've seen people like that. You have some people just like that–they have come to the point of freedom of exhaustion. And so they would rather stay in Egypt. They've conditioned themselves to the system. Then you had another group to develop there–they were the people who didn't wanna go back to Egypt. They hated Egypt. They had suffered in Egypt and they knew the disadvantages of Egypt. But they did not want to go through the sacrifices involved in getting to the promised land. And so they just wanted to hang around out in the wilderness. I believe Moses was talking to this group when he said, 'We've been in this mountain long enough.' They wanted to hang around on the mountain, not out in the wilderness. They wanted freedom, but they didn't want to go through the sacrifices involved in gaining freedom. They wanted the fruits of freedom. But they didn't want to do the necessary work in gaining it. And now there are some people like that today. They want it–they hate the Egypt of segregation and discrimination. They hate it. But they don't want to go through the sacrifices involved. These are the people who are afraid, you see, that they will lose a job. These are the people that have the philosophy that 'I've got to live and I've got to make a living and in order to do that, I must not get too involved.' These are the people that have certain positions. And because of the security of their positions, they sacrifice the security of their freedom. They want freedom, but they don't want to suffer a little for it. They don't want to sacrifice for it. These are the people who want to remain at one spot–they want it to be worked out by somebody else, and when it's worked out then they'll go on and jump over there and do it like that. They want it. Moses confronted another group. This is the beauty of history–they confronted another group that was probably a small group. And they looked over, and they faced the fact that there were giants in the land, but they believed that (?) they could possess the land. They were determined to go. They knew that they had difficulties ahead. They knew that although they had conquered Egypt, there were (people in the land.) But in spite of the prodigious hilltops of evil and the gigantic mountaintops of opposition they believed they could go to the promised land. They moved on, they moved on with faith in God and with the strength of their convictions. Today, who will be in that group? Who will be in that group today? What is the connection between a sunflower and activism I'm not gonna fool you, my friends, there are giants in this land. Giants of vested interest. Giants of rational emotionalist. Giants of political dynasties that have been set up across the years–they are there. Who today will believe that we can possess the land? This will be the group that will change history. This will be that creative minority. Who will be in that group? Till that group emerges, and until that group stands there, the Negro will not achieve his freedom in America. We have got to get there, and stand there, and be determined, and keep moving. Freedom is never achieved without determined struggle and a willingness to sacrifice. I see right here in your city you're still having bus difficulties. Now don't you think busses are going to get integrated in Shreveport, Louisiana voluntarily and that nobody is gonna have to suffer and sacrifice here. You've got to begin now devising a method whereby you will stand before this community and say, 'Come what may, these busses will be integrated.' And we are gonna suffer if necessary, we are gonna sacrifice if necessary, but we are gonna stand here until they're integrated because we know this is the will of the Almighty God. There is such a thing as moral and righteous pressure. And things are done by people who can apply that adequately and morally, that righteous pressure. That's why we talk so much about the ballot now. That's why we talk about it–because we know that there is power in the ballot. Things that disturbed me about Little Rock, Arkansas, along with other things, is that Governor Faubus was elected was quite tragic. And something else even more tragic–he was elected by more than 200,000 votes. Did you know that there are more than 200,000 eligible Negro voters in the state of Arkansas? If these people had gone to the polls–if these people had registered with the other people who voted against Governor Faubus he wouldn't have been elected. So that is a failure to apply what we have in our hands. We've got to sacrifice enough to walk down and get registered and then go to the polls. We've got to give some money in our pockets and give some money to the cause of freedom. Who is in the creative minority? That creative minority that I'm trying to talk about will say somehow that we are going on into the promised land, that we are willing to sacrifice anything, that we are willing to suffer because we must possess the land. Who is in that group tonight? And I want you to ask yourself a question tonight before you leave here–which of the three groups do you fit in? Are you in that group willing to suffer and sacrifice and say to yourself that I must be free because God himself made me to be free. Who this evening can somehow say to his wife's brother, I'm not trying to tear up the nation–I just want to be free. I'm not trying to take possession of everything in this nation–I just want to be free. I'm not out to become your brother-in-law, I just want to be your brother and I want to be free. I'm not out to go into this great nation of ours and set it back in terms of its moral achievements–I just want to be free. Who can go out this evening and say, paraphrasing the words of Shakespeare's Othello–who steals my purse steals trash; tis something, nothing, twas mine, tis his, and has been the slave of thousands. But he who filches from me my freedom robs me of that freedom that does not enrich him but makes me poorer indeed. I just want to be free. You this evening can go out and cry to the nations, 'I just want to be free!' Then somebody will come to the point of saying I'll do anything to be free. May mean I to go to jail, but I'll go to jail to be free. May be losing my job, but I'll lose my job to be free. May mean physical death, but if physical death is the price I must pay to free my children from a permanent life of psychological death then give me death, for I want to be free. Who this evening can go out and cry to the nations, 'I want to be free!' Then come to the point that you can cry out with your forefathers, 'Before I'll be a slave I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be saved.' I just want to be free. History teaches us a lesson. A lesson that freedom never comes without sacrifice and suffering. And struggle. There's another lesson that we can learn from history, and I don't want to be too long. History teaches us that freedom can be achieved without violence. We have some lessons in history that reveal to us that we don't have to get our guns. So take courage now; I've come to see that you don't have to stack your house with ammunition. I've come to see that you don't have to fill up some deposit of bombs, now. You don't have to do it that way. History reveals that you can gain your freedom and you don't ever have to pick up a gun to do it. History reveals that all of us have something that's powerful–more powerful than any gun that has been created. You may be poor. You may not have any money. You may be illiterate–you may not know the difference between you does and you don't. You may not have ever heard of Plato or Aristotle. Never heard of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. You may not have all of the cultural attainments of this nation. But you have a soul. History said that if you will somehow decide that you're gonna use the whole force of your soul, you can shake empires… Because you have a soul. 'Bloody Caddo': Research uncovers post-Civil War racial violence Mahatma Gandhi, a little brown man, looked at the people of India. He said you may be illiterate… The French Empire has exploited us so much that 350 million of you make less than $50 a year. You don't have any money… But you got a soul. You will use the force of your soul. I will begin to walk with you and talk with you. We can shake the British empire. That little brown man galvanized the whole of India. And I remember reading of that day when he started his people, and they were being exploited and they were being charged tax on salt and he told them that we're gonna walk down to the salt sea. And against all of the British empire, we're gonna just reach down in that sea and get all the salt we want. And I want you to march with me today, and if they shoot you don't shoot back. If they kick you, let them kick you down and you get up if you can and keep walking and if they kill you, remember that you have a soul and they can't kill that because. it's immortal. So don't worry if they kill the physical parts. Gandhi started with them that day. He just started walking with a few people and they walked on and other people joined, and they walked on and other people joined, and when they got down to that sea hundreds and thousands of people stood there. That day I image that the boys back in London at number 10 Downing Street said to themselves, 'That's all, boys. It's all over. It's all over now. It's all over.' It was the power of the soul, and this is what we have. This is what we have. Let us come to the point that we can say to ourselves that we will meet your physical force with soul force. Get your guns and keep shooting, bomb our homes and our churches and slap our children, and we gonna still love you. We gonna wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we gone win our freedom. But not only will we win freedom for ourselves, we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process. And our victory will be a double victory. We will not only achieve our freedom, but we will win the hearts and souls of those who have deprived us of that freedom. This is why I believe so firmly in the power of love and nonviolence in our struggle: we are not won the battle hating white people. Hate doesn't help the hater and it doesn't help the person who is hated. There's something about hate that hurts the hater. Somebody must have the power to transform through love. You hate somebody, and you are as uncomfortable and as frustrated as the person you hate. Powerful Southern segregationist Senator was from Claiborne Parish, Louisiana Oh, there's something about hate that keeps you from walking straight. There's something about hate that keeps you from standing up straight. When you hate, you can't see right. When you hate, you lose your power of objectivity. If you hate somebody, you can't see that person. When you hate strong enough, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. A good speech becomes a bad speech and a bad speech becomes a good speech. When you hate strong enough, you will look at a good deed of a person and call it a bad deed. Hate causes you to put the wrong price tag on everything. When your hate's strong enough hairpins begin to sell for a thousand dollars and diamond rings for five cents, because you got the wrong price tag on things. There's something about hate that does something to the hater. And so our way must be a way of love. We will stand upright here in this South land and say to our white brothers, we cannot in all of good conscience obey your unjust laws. Do to us what you want to, and we gone still love you, but we gone disobey these unjust laws. And when you put us in jail, we gonna still love you. Whatever you do to us, we gonna still love you. Do to us what you will and we gonna still love you. Have we come to that point yet? That we can use the power of our souls to turn the corner? Now somebody saying to me, Reverend what in the world do you mean when you say love your enemies, and love those people who are hurting you? Do you mean to say that you can love those people with an affectionate love? Complex mapping project gives Shreveport civil rights historians the ability to see much bigger picture I can't have an affectionate people for people who bombed my home, trying to kill my wife and my baby, and I can't love them with this affectionate love, or sentimental love, certainly not. You know the Greek language has three words for love, and it's a very interesting thing we out to apply to our situation. The Greek language has a word called Eros, and Eros is a sort of ecstatic love. Plato talked about it a great deal in his dialogues. A yearning of the soul to the realm of the gods. It's good enough to be a sort of romantic love that we have in our romantic relations, and so we all know about that kind of love. We all know about it. We've all been a part of Eros. I guess Edgar Allen Poe was talking about Eros when he was talking about his beautiful Annibelle Lee with love surrounded by the halo of eternity. Shakespeare was thinking about it when he said love is not love, which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove. Oh, no, it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempest and is never shaken. It is the star to every wondering bark. And you know I can remember that because i used to quote it to my wife when we were courting. The Greek language talks about Philia, which is another love, another level of love, is a sort of personal affection. It's a sort of reciprocal affection between personal friends. And on this level you love because your are loved. You love people that you like. There are things in common with them. You have dinner with them, you talk to one another on the telephone. They are likeable people, and you have things in common, and they are your person friends. This is a powerful love. Then the Greek language comes out with another word. They call it Agape. Agape is more than Eros, more than Philia, it's understanding creative objective goodwill toward all men. It is an overflowing love that seeks nothing in return. Unsolved crime: Shreveport's St. Rest Baptist Church bombed during Civil Rights Movement Theologians would tell us that it is the love of God working in the lives of men. When you rise to love on this level, you love men not because you like them. But you love them because God loves them. And i think this is what Jesus meant when he said love your enemies, and I'm glad he didn't say like your enemies. He didn't say like your enemies, because like is a sentimental, affectionate sort of thing. But love is greater than like. I find it pretty difficult to like all of these Southern senators and congressmen up in Washington who are doing everything that they possibly can to defeat the goal of the negro. I don't like their ideas, I don't like their attitudes, I don't like what they're trying to do to my people. But Jesus says love them! And love is greater than like. When you rise to the true level of love, you can love the person who does the evil deed by hating the deed that the person does. This is another level, you see. You come to the point that you hate deeds and you hate systems, but you don't hate persons. This is what we must have at this time, and I can hear Jesus speaking to us in this day, and in this period, saying once more, 'I know what you're going through. I know how you are being treated, and how you're being kicked around. I know all the violence that you were facing. I know the brutality that you are facing. And I know you've heard men say love those people who love you and treat you right and hate your enemies; but I say unto you love your enemies! Bless them that curse you! Pray for them that despitefully use you. Shreveport was a major Confederate capital; here's why it still matters And only through this method can you matriculate into the university of eternal life. Only by loving. And this is the way history reveals to us that we can achieve our freedom, and we can achieve justice, with our fathers. I come now to a final point, a final lesson that history teaches us. It is this: that in the struggle for freedom and truth and righteousness, you are never alone. But God works with you. History reminds us that truth and justice and love and freedom are ultimately triumphant. And that evil must ultimately go down. History teaches us that. History teaches us that the children of Israel may be taken away into Egyptian captivity, and there for years were Lorded and dominated and trampled over. But one day the Red Sea opens. History teaches us that Hitler may rise on the throne. He may bolster the fact that he is gonna rule the world. He may even kill five million Jews. But one day, that same Hitler is crushed and the power of his office tumbles. History teaches us that good Friday may occupy the throne for a day. But ultimately it must give way to the triumphs and feat of the drums of Easter. History teaches us that Ceasar will occupy the palace for a while, and crash the course. But one day, that same Christ will rise up and split history into A.D. and B.C. so that even the lack of Ceasar must be dated by His name. History teaches us. Call out it's right and you will live forever. History teaches us. (Missing sentence.) History teaches us. James Russel Lowell was right. 'Truth forever on the scaffold, forever on the throne.' Yet that scaffold sways the future behind the them unknown standing guard within the shadows, keeping watch above his own. History teaches us that the Biblical writer was right. You shall reap what you sow! History teaches us that even though midnight will come, ultimately the daybreak will emerge. History teaches us that Longfellow was right. Be still, sad heart, and cease repining. Behind the clouds, the sun is still shining. History repeats itself. Surprising Caddo Parish Civil Rights artists You must never get weak. And I say to you this evening, be of good courage. Walk together–children, don't you get weary. For you know there's a great (?) in the great promised land. History teaches us that sometimes we have to sing, 'nobody knows the trouble I've seen.' Then it teaches us that the next day we can begin to sing 'I'm so glad that trouble don't last always.' History teaches us that there is a God in the universe–a God concerned about his children and what they go through. I close with this demonstration of…. fact. I remember when our struggles started down in Montgomery, Alabama. I had lived 25 comfortable years of my life. Didn't have any real problems. Didn't worry about anything much–always had a lovely mother and father in the background who were so nice and they provided all the comforts and conveniences of life. I have religion, I have grow up in the church. But it was the type of religion that you grow up in and naturally I hadn't had all of the experiences of religion and life. Then I was called to a little church down in Montgomery, Alabama, and I went there and started out in my pastorate. And then on Dec. 5, 1955, people of that city got tired. Tired of being kicked around, and tired of the indignities they had encountered on the busses over the years. And we said we are gonna protest. We are not gonna ride these busses anymore until conditions change. They said to themselves, we gonna substitute tired feet for tired souls and we gonna walk the streets of Montgomery because we believe it is ultimately more honorable to walk in dignity than to ride in humiliation. So they said to me now, we want you to serve as our spokesman and to lead us on in this struggle, because (? people and the social gospel.) I answered the call. Things went smoothly for several weeks, several days. But then about the middle of January threatening calls began to come into the house and threatening letters. And they started coming almost 30 and 40 a day, and I was trying to get in over my… and I was trying to be strong, but it continued and it continued. And I soon discovered myself faltering a little and I soon discovered that I was getting a little afraid. Morning after morning I would look across the breakfast table and see a devoted wife and a charming little daughter. And I started thinking about how at any moment I could be taken away from them, or they could be taken away from me. Something could happen because these threats might be true. And I started feeling myself weak and faltering along the way, and I started fearing a little bit. And then I remember very vividly one night very late, it was about midnight, I was in bed and the phone rang and I picked up on the phone and on the other end I heard this voice, and… told me terrible things, and what was going to be done, and this was it: that they were getting ready to get rid of me. And for some reason, that voice did something to me. It sort of took my nerves and it got me to faltering even more, and it seemed that all of the fears and all of the weak moments came to me at this one time and they all fell down. And I tried to go to sleep and I couldn't go to sleep, and I got up and I started walking. And I remember I went back in the kitchen. My wife was asleep, and there on that table I started thinking and I started to make a little boil and a little coffee, and I thought that would give me a little relief. And I was still deep in fear. And I started thinking about a lot of things. I thought about the problem of evil. And I started thinking about the philosophical and theological connotations, and the explanations that theologians and philosophers have given for evil and I was raised in a Christian house–why are people like this? And then I came to see that I couldn't answer the question like this. Then I thought about the fact that Momma and Dad were just 175 miles in Atlanta, but that was too far now. There was a point that I could call on them, but I couldn't do that now. They were 175 miles away and I had to face this thing. And I came to see in that moment that I had come to the end of the road and all of my particular powers had gone. And I never will forget it. I bowed down on the side of that table and began to talk to the Lord about it. And I began to develop a religious experience for myself that I had never had before. Lord, I'm here trying to lead the people and I feel myself getting weak. I'm doing it because I think it's right and I think the cause is right, and now I'm in fear and I can't go before the people like this because if I go before them then they themselves will falter. I've got to be strong when I go before them. And I tried everything. I turned to all explanations, and now I've come to see that I can't solve this problem by myself. And I turn everything over to you. And I leave it with you. Seems that at that moment, something spoke to me within not a literal voice, but something began to speak within saying in substance stand up for truth. Stand up for righteousness, stand up for justice, and lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world. MAPS: Are Shreveport's food deserts connected to civil rights era? Three nights later, I was in a mass meeting at the First Baptist Church and people began to run up and down the aisles delivering messages and I noticed that nobody was coming to me. Pretty soon, something said to me there's something wrong and it affects you. And I started asking em now, 'what's wrong? What is this?' And I called Reverend Say and Reverend Abernathy, and one or two other of my closest associates and I said I know it's something wrong and you're trying to hide it from me. But whatever it is let me know. I'm prepared for it. And they looked over to me and said reluctantly, 'Your home has just been bombed.' And I said how is Coretta and the baby? Have you heard yet? Did you get any information on that yet? And they said we don't have that yet, but we're trying to find out now. And when I heard the words, I didn't get upset. I didn't go back and tell the people to go pick up their guns. I was just as calm as I'd ever been in my life. Why? Because three nights before, something had happened. A power greater than anything in this universe had said to me in substance that you are not in this struggle alone. And I can say to you sincerely my friends, ever since that day I have been able to walk the streets of Montgomery with my feet solid to the ground and my hair straight to the air–…. because I felt the power of the Almighty God. And He's still saying that to us days ahead, the days ahead are difficult. And we're gonna need something to keep us going. We're going to need some power to keep us going. And I say to you, go out with a faith that God is with us. We have constant companionship in this struggle. If we would learn these three lessons from history, 100 years from now when historians write of the history of America they will have to say there lived a great people–a Black people. People with (?) locks and Black complexions. But a people who injected new meaning into the veins of our civilization. Historians will have to say this world is better because those Black people lived. And it means we will do this a few years from now and a few decades from now: men will be able to come together Black men and White men. Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will join in the singing of a new song–Free at last, free at last, praise God almighty we are free at last! Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
BBC News
05-02-2025
- BBC News
Huddersfield PCSO cleared of sexual assaults on colleagues
A police community support officer (PCSO) has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting two colleagues. Paul Simpkins, 43, of Huddersfield, denied three counts of sexual assault alleged to have taken place in February and July Simpkins, a PCSO based in the Kirklees district, was cleared of all counts by a jury on Wednesday following a trial at Bradford Crown Yorkshire Police said his suspension from duty would now be reviewed alongside any misconduct proceedings. Mr Simpkins was accused of unwanted contact with a colleague in a taxi and in a bar, and inappropriately touching another man he worked with in a hotel told the trial the first complainant had also touched him, while the second incident did not to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
