“Crazy Dion” Diamond at one of his sit-ins as a teenager in Arlington, VA. June 10, 1960
via reddit
All of those people around him are demons
hey guys! here’s some fun things i learned from this article about Dion Diamond:
he did these sit-ins by himself. like idk about you, but i always thought of sit-ins as organized by groups, what kind of bravery does it take, man
he didn’t tell anyone about it, like he was no glory-seeker about this. his parents didn’t even know until reporters started calling them up like “hey, did you know your son is in jail?
when someone called the cops he’d skedaddle out the back door although he was sent to prison multiple times
the last time he got arrested was in Baton Rouge, and the cops were so sick of him that they told inmates they’d put in a good word for anyone who gave Diamond a hard time. (the inmates didn’t take the bait.)
he’s still alive!
hark, a hero of our times!
That is unbelievable courage!
I just looked him up, and it looks like he’s still alive (and hopefully well). He was 19 when that first picture was taken, if the date’s correct, and a student at Howard University in DC, hence why he was doing his sit-in in Arlington, which is across the river. (DC wasn’t as prominently segregated at the time, at least not as much as either Maryland or Virginia. And looking at the top and bottom picture, I’m pretty sure they’re both the same location and day–at least, a lot of the people surrounding him are the same people wearing the same clothing.)
Also, his birthday is on Feb 7, if anyone wants to make sure to reblog this on the day.
