Civil rights figure talks of activism

James Meredith, the first black man allowed into the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), gave a lecture at the School of Education titled "How America can remain the dominant nation in the world for the next 1,000 years." Students and community members filled the seats of the first floor auditorium as Meredith spoke about the meaning of citizenship, white supremacy, his time in the U.S. Air Force and his public role as an activist.\n"I created James Meredith. I never considered myself James Meredith, I created James Meredith to do these things," Meredith said, referring to his public persona.\nMeredith is also responsible for the March Against Fear, a march he started alone, from Memphis to Jackson, Miss., before he was wounded by a shotgun blast and hospitalized. Prominent civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael resumed the march in his honor. However, he staunchly opposed being aligned with the civil rights movement. \nAlvin O. Chambliss Jr., visiting professor in education and African American and diaspora studies invited Meredith to speak as part of a class he is currently teaching on "Race in Higher Education." \nChambliss said that Meredith represented a "lone wolf" amongst people in the civil rights movement. \n"After he was allowed into Ole Miss, in his first press conference, he criticized the federal government, saying it was a sin and shame, that they would disparage black people by segregating the troops," Chambliss said. "So the same people who were guarding him he was criticizing, because they were segregated.\n"You may not agree with many of the positions he's taken, but you can't denigrate the courage throughout this ordeal of not only his person, his actions, but his conviction. He believed what he believed."\nMeredith came to speak to Chambliss' class of roughly 13 students just before delivering his lecture to the public.\nMeredith fielded questions by the students. Many of his answers to student's questions mirrored topics covered in his lecture, the nature of citizenship and white supremacy.\nMeredith said he had been speaking to a crowd of mostly African Americans the previous day and asked them if they believed in white supremacy. He said no one raised their hands. \n"I told them that 99 percent of them believed in white supremacy," he said. "Most blacks don't know -- they either believe it or support it."\nOne student asked about interracial resentment due to different shades of skin color within the black community. \nMeredith said it was important to be smart enough to know how to deal with resentment.\n"My daddy said: People need to be prevented from doing wrong and made to do right," he said. \nGen Shaker, a doctoral student, said she was happy to see Meredith talk.\n"I feel privileged to hear from someone who made his life out of something he believed in," Shaker said. \nGuy Loftman, a Bloomington lawyer who attended both the public lecture and sat in on Chambliss's class, praised Meredith as an interesting individual. \n"I think that he's an original thinker and he has a point of view that encompasses his thinking," Loftman said. "He's very unusual."\nRashawn Ray, a doctoral student in sociology, said Meredith probed some interesting points. \n"I was very interested in how he looked at white supremacy ideology, and the idea of breaking it up to bring about social change," Ray said. "He said to end white supremacy, we must show how it would benefit (whites)."\nMeredith said that he's always faced opposition in the things he has tried to accomplish. But a strong will and a determined attitude have helped him fulfill his achievements.\n"I've always been a warrior. I used to fight for fun." Meredith said. "When I when to Jackson State, I had to establish myself as the baddest dude around"