Joe Hayden Shares Insights from his Civil Rights Journey
Attorney Joe Hayden was interviewed on The Bold Sidebar Podcast with Attorney Jeff Horn, in “Joe Hayden – Selma, Newark, LA, Ferguson to Minneapolis – A Civil Rights Journey.” In this podcast, Joe shares his insights and discusses some of his experiences with civil rights issues, beginning with his participation as a college student in the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.
“I’ll begin reflecting on watching all the social unrest in Minneapolis and Atlanta, about my experiences in Selma, also while I was a college student, my experiences at Rutgers Law School in Newark in ’67 when we had the Newark riots, my experience as a prosecutor and a criminal defense lawyer working with police officers, and now the social unrest which is sweeping our country in an unprecedented way. And the thing that has struck me is that with all of the vast social improvements and civil rights improvements in terms of the law and opportunities available, what has changed the least is the friction between the police and the African-American community, the instances of outrageous police brutality and misconduct in some instances that have taken place. And at times when I’m watching it on television, I almost feel like I’m back in Alabama, or back in the middle of the civil rights movement in Alabama, because nothing has changed.”
“There is a sense among people that this cannot happen again, and it is all of our causes….I am actually very hopeful that there can be a change in the culture.”