"Official" Mississippi's Contemporary Relationship to Myself

(Not much has changed in "official" Mississippi's relationship to me since this good letter by John III.  "They" seem very skittery when it comes to me -- my name and certainly my mind and physical self.  I have defeated Lupus but hear recently, via solid sources, rumors from the Magnolia state that I am either dead, dying, or infirm.  I have never fit into the frameworks of caution and timidity -- and I never will, We've now placed this on several of our website pages.  Hunter Bear, Fall, 2012.)
LETTER ON HUNTER [FROM JOHN  SALTER III - PUBLISHED  JULY 25 2005 - MISSISSIPPI CLARION LEDGER] 
 


July 25, 2005
  
John Salter's role in Miss. will leave world in better shape

Mississippi has been forsaking one of its champions.

In Jackson in the early 1960s, my father - John Salter - was known variously as an outside agitator, the "mustard man" at the Woolworth's sit-in, friend and colleague of Medgar Evers, Tougaloo professor, target for police clubs (successful), target for Klan bullets (unsuccessful), organizer of the Jackson boycott, race traitor, firebrand, rabble-rouser, hero.

My father went on from Jackson to fight the good fight in North Carolina, Illinois, New York, Arizona, Iowa, Washington, North Dakota and elsewhere. Now it isn't the Klan out to get him, but Systemic Lupus - a chronic, usually fatal disease.

My father is a warrior, but this is a tough one to win.  Some days his hands are rendered useless claws. But his soul and mind are strong and even in this state he's doing what he can to leave the world in better shape than when he arrived.

I was with my father in 1979 when he spoke at a civil rights retrospective at Millsaps College. I was sitting in the audience next to Professor Jim Silver who, along with hundreds of others, gave my father a standing ovation.

A few years ago, my father changed his last name to Gray, the name his father was born with but held for only a short time before being adopted by the Salters. Mississippians will understand the importance of honoring one's ancestry and, I hope, of paying tribute to those who helped make their history.

Learn much more about my father and his role in Mississippi by visiting his extensive website, www.hunterbear.org, or by reading his book, Jackson, Mississippi: An American Chronicle of Struggle and Schism.

John R. Salter III
Glyndon, Minn. 
  
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Good post! 
Peace,
David [McReynolds]   7/25/05
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Thanks for sharing this letter. 

Joyce Ladner    7/25/05

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Dear Hunter Bear,
    The nice piece that your son wrote about you for the Jackson newspaper was circulated on the SSOC list.
    I want to send you the best, and many thanks for all your good deeds over the years.  My memories go back to your years with SCEF.  You are an inspiration to us!
    Is your book still available?  Is it possible to get an autographed copy?  There would be an honored place on my bookshelf beside the other heroes of the civil rights movement.  I could send a check, if that is doable.
    At any rate, here is sending you best regards from almost across the country, in the Ancient City which was also a battlefield of the movement.
        Sincerely,
        David Nolan  7/25/05

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 I am glad to see a SNCC person welcoming a post about 
Hunter Gray's book JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI (written under his 
birth name, John R. Salter, Jr.) The book, although written 
a quarter century ago, represents a revision of modern 
Southern history as we now understand it. It argues that the 
Jackson movement at the very beginning of the Sixties was 
the largest and most powerful anywhere in the South, more so 
than Birmingham or Selma, but was crushed because, in that 
early year, the state and local authorities and the Klan 
were still more powerful.
The book plays due respect to SNCC and other organizations 
and leaders, but notes that they were primarily outsiders, 
Black and white. It greatly elevates the place of Medgar 
Evers, leader of the Jackson movement, in Black and 
Mississippi and U.S. history. It becomes clear that the 
reason his name does not automatically come to mind in these 
connections is that he was killed in 1963, before the years 
of great triumphs and nationwide publicity for the struggle 
in Mississippi. . . 
Hunter sent me a copy of the book last week. I take 
pride in words in his dedication: "Our trails have touched 
and paralleled one another many times..."

William "Bill"  Mandel  7/25/05

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for son John -- thank you!  thank you! for writing that excellent letter to the Clarion-Ledger.  And my cheers to you and to your wonder-full parents, old friends who are very dear to me.
Paz, Clyde Appleton   7/25/05

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Here's a comment from Jackson, from a person with no movement background 
or connection:
"Reber-  I read the letter to the editor in the Clarion Ledger this 
morning and remembered that Salter was a friend of yours and intended to 
send it to you.  It contains his web site and invitation to read further 
about him which I intend to do, although I believe you furnished it to 
me a year or so ago."

Reber Boult   7/25/05

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I will add a (non-religious) Amen to all that has been said.
best
sam  [friedman]  7/26/05 
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Many of us saw the beautiful letter that your son wrote to the Clarion-Ledger. What a kid!

Susan Klopfer    7/27/05
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Hi Son of John Salter,  [7/28/05]

I am pleased to see that you are traveling in your father's footsteps. This
is the thing that will make his legacy a great one. Last I saw you and your
wonderful Mother, you were just a small boy emerging into a world filled
with hanging moss and the sounds of 500 students. My name is Colia Liddell
Lafayette Clark. I was instrumental in bringing a willing John Salter into the
Mississippi struggle. He was a wonderful teacher and unusual in that he was
willing to give his time, expertise and energy to assist in making a
movement happen in Jackson. Because of his hard earnest work light came to a
very dark place bringing with it a waterfall of positive change. Please
remind him that his student thinks of him often and that I cannot image that
he is anything but the big bad bear that took on the racist-fascist State of
Mississippi. His legacy is one of hope. He can never die though he may fade
away, his work through you, his students and the people of Mississippi will
live and justify his coming this way. I will write more later. Please send
me an address where I can communicate through formal mail.

Sincerely,

Colia Liddell  LaFayette Clark 

____________________________________________________________________ 

What a wonderful letter from  John III.   What a wonderful act/gift to receive
 from a son.  -- Tim McGowan      August 10  2005

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
www.hunterbear.org 
(much social justice material)

Key pieces from our big Jackson Mississippi Movement 
scrapbook.  Three consecutive and full pages beginning with
this Link:  http://hunterbear.org/a_piece_of__the_scrapbook.htm
See my personal reflections on Medgar Evers:
http://hunterbear.org/medgar_w.htm

The Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm
(Expanded, and with more photos in Fall 2012. Material on our Native
background.)  And see Personal Background Narrative: 
http://hunterbear.org/narrative.htm  (Updated into 2012) 

For the new (11/2011) and expanded/updated
edition of my "Organizer's Book," JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- 
with a new and substantial introduction by me.  We are now at 
the 50th Anniversary of the massive Jackson Movement
of 1962-63:  http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm