West Coast college students go to Vernon Dahmer websites as a part of Civil Rights tour

PINE BELT, miss. (WDAM) – Wednesday afternoon, a group of students and teachers, mostly from California, met the Dahmer family while on a civil rights tour of the south.

Jeff Steinberg founded the ‘Sojourn to the Past’ tour to provide a historical journey to the civil rights centers of the south.

“People like the Dahmer family and others in the civil rights movement are, in my opinion, the real founding fathers and founding mothers of this district. They believe in real freedom, ”explains Steinberg. “Unlike the founding fathers we grew up with since kindergarten, like Washington and Jefferson who were slave owners, real freedom, and they’re not in our history books.”

“So we were all betrayed because we know their story. The least I can do is repay them, shed light on their story, and give their story a voice. “

Vernon Dahmer Sr.’s wife, sons, nieces, and nephews showed the group their home on Monroe Road, Dahmer’s grave in Shady Grove Baptist Church, and the memorial statue in downtown Hattiesburg.

“We agreed to attend because we believe that it is very important that the story is told, and that it is told accurately,” said Dennis K. Dahmer, the youngest son of Vernon F. Dahmer Sr.

“This is more than the death of Vernon Dahmer. It’s about the life he’s lived and the things he’s tried to make positive change in America. And that is the real story that has to be told here. “

Dennis says his family has been participating for about 20 years to keep his father’s legacy alive.

“One of the reasons we do this with these groups, when they get through, is because we want to have a positive impact on people. Especially young people, because you never know where some of these young people will one day end up in America on that bus, ”says Dennis.

Dennis stood in front of his family home and talked about what the family went through after his father was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1966.

“We never want to lose sight of what happened here because it was a very terrible event and it took a long time to get something that resembled justice. It did. So we’re happy to be able to do this, ”says Dennis. “The last trial was completed in 1998, but the important thing is to remember people like my father and others, not just the way they died, but what they lived for and what they did tried to reach. “

Steinberg explains the purpose of the tour and the stops they will make along the way.

“We’re going to Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Little Rock and Memphis,” says Steinberg. “The person they learn most about is not one of the speakers, including the Dahmers. The person they learn most about is themselves and what will they do when confronted, where can they show their courage, where could they be asked to sacrifice.

“The Dahmer certainly paid the highest price. Our children could at least choose. “

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