E.D. Nixon’s respect for the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) outweighed his own interests or those of “any of its members.” But he finally had to take a stance against what was happening inside the association.
In his resignation letter to the MIA in 1957, Nixon wrote, “I resent being treated as a newcomer to the MIA. It is my dream, hope and hard work since 1932 and I do not expect to be treated as a child.”
Unlike most of the other members of the MIA, Nixon had not attended college. He opposed the MIA giving the most influential positions only to college-educated people instead of to people like himself, who had decades of practical experience. He had been a labor activist and civil rights organizer for 20 years before founding the MIA, and remained one for many years after he left it.
Black is brilliant whether we have a diploma or not. We have to remember those standards are often used to disenfranchise us. Don’t fall for it. Our ways of knowing go far beyond any educational institution. We win by respecting each other’s knowledge.