A View of Born to Fight

On September 11, 2009, Crystal Lee Sutton died of brain cancer.  She was only 68 years old, and her fight against the disease was complicated by an ongoing battle she had with her health insurance provider, who initially refused to pay for medication that could have saved her life.


In an interview in the Burlington (N.C.) Times-News in 2008, in the midst of her battle with cancer, she showed her fighting spirit when she said:

"How in the world can it take so long to find out (whether they would cover the medicine or not) when it could be a matter of life or death?  It is almost like, in a way, committing murder."

By the time her insurer relented and authorized treatment, the slow growing cancer that ravaged her nervous system was beyond treatment, but she never stopped fighting for her rights.  It came to her naturally.

Ms. Sutton was, years ago, a textile worker.  She folded towels at a plant in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, but was fired when she tried to organize her fellow workers.  Undeterred, she continued her work, becoming a part of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.  Her story was the inspiration for the 1979 film, "Norma Rae," a film that earned Sally Field an Oscar for her portrayal of Ms. Sutton.

She did not fight for fame or glory, but for winning equal rights for all people, saying:

"It is not necessary I be remembered as anything, but I would like to be remembered as a woman who deeply cared for the working poor and the poor people of the U.S. and the world.  That my family and children and children like mine will have a fair share and equality."

Click here to see a tribute to Crystal Lee Sutton

from the NC Triad Chapter of Jobs with Justice.

Ms. Sutton had a kindred spirit in a man who shared her vision, her passion, and her willingness to fight.

Yesterday, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth died after battling the effects of a major stroke suffered four years ago.  Like Ms. Sutton, Rev. Shuttlesworth lived in the South, born and raised in Alabama.  After becoming a minister, he began working with the NAACP, undeterred by the fact that his home state had outlawed the organization.  When he sued the state to battle segregation on buses, his house was bombed by the KKK.  He survived an explosion caused by sixteen sticks of dynamite placed under his bedroom window, emerging from his heavily damaged home without a scratch.  A police officer, who was also a member of the KKK, told him to get out of town.

"I wasn't saved to run," Rev. Shuttlesworth replied.

Not only did Rev. Shuttlesworth refuse to run, he continued his work with an emphasis on the concept of nonviolent resistance. Vowing to "kill segregation or be killed by it," he helped form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.  The motto of the organization summed up the Shuttlesworth philosophy: "Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed."

He endured other attempts on his life, including an attack by a mob as he tried to enroll his children in an all-white school in Birmingham in 1957, another attempted bombing a year later, and a vicious beating when he took part in the Freedom Rides in 1961.  None of these attacks deterred his work.  Instead, he used his words to shame the men who tried to kill him:

"...you see, we thought that you could just shame America...look at your promises, and look at how you're treating your poor Negro citizens...you ought to be ashamed of yourself. But you know, segregation, you can't shame segregation...rattlesnakes don't commit suicide. Ball teams don't strike themselves out - you gotta put 'em out."

He remained active in the Civil Rights Movement through the 1960's, organized the Greater New Light Baptist Church in 1966, founded the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation in 1998 to help poor families buy their own homes, and even stepped down from his post as president of the SCLC - the organization he was instrumental in founding - in 2005 in protest due to the "deceit, mistrust, and a lack of spiritual discipline and truth" that he said had "eaten at the core of this once-hallowed institution."

Both Ms. Sutton and Rev. Shuttlesworth passed with little mention of their deaths.  Both died after working tirelessly - often at their own peril - to ensure that those who stood with them and came after them had the opportunity for a better life than they had.  Both did not let the threat of death stop them from doing the work they knew was necessary to make the world a better place.

"It helps to have a little divine insanity," Rev. Shuttlesworth once said. "That's when you're willing to suffer and die for something. Christ did it for us, so I don't think it's asking too much to do it for him."

Click here to see a video where Rev. Shuttlesworth

discusses what he believes is his greatest achievement.

More later, after saying thank you to Ms. Sutton and Rev. Shuttlesworth for your willingness to fight, your bravery, your grace, and your wisdom.