Freedom Rides to NIC, civil rights speaker addresses students

Schools teach the history behind the fight for racial equality, but on Thursday, March 19, NIC students and community members got to hear about it from someone who lived through it.

Max Pavesic, a man who rode on the bus trips down south during the 1960s–known as the Freedom Rides–spoke about the hardships and imprisonment he experienced during the trip.

The Freedom Riders were a mixed group of both African-American and Caucasian individuals who rode down south in a bus during the 1960s, where black segregation and discrimination were violently prevalent. On the bus, the African-Americans would sit up in the front, challenging the South to do something when there was no longer a federal law against it.

From fire bombs to violent ambushes, Pavesic recounted the injustices faced during his travels.

“We weren’t breaking any laws,” Pavesic repeated. “We were testing them.”

Alongside many others, Pavesic and the members of his group were arrested in Mississippi–a place that, during the 1960s, Pavesic referred to as a fascist regime.

“It really emasculates you,” Pavesic said with a chuckle, referencing his initial admittance search into a Mississippi Prison. “You feel like you don’t have control anymore.”

A member of the audience asked Pavesic if his arrest had affected him in his later life, to which Pavesic chuckled.

“Yeah, it kept me out of the army,” Pavesic responded with a crooked smile and a wink.

The event was received extremely well, with many members of the audience lingering to ask questions.

“I thought this was a good chance to get educated,” said AJ Konda, a 21-year-old computer science major. “To hear it from someone who actually has real world experience with it from that time.”