This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
KUED producer/director Nancy Green didn't know what she would find when she started work on "Utah's Freedom Riders" — and what she discovered surprised her.
"I was surprised to hear people say that in the '50s and '60s, they would rather face racism in the South than in Utah," she said. "Because in the South, they knew where they stood. It was obvious. In Utah, racism was much more covert and it was bewildering."
According to those Green interviewed, many Utahns were nice in person and then would "turn around and say or do something hurtful."
"It pervaded Utah's society," she said. "We didn't have Jim Crow laws here, but African-Americans and people of color were barred from most jobs, realtors tried to restrict them to certain areas, many restaurants wouldn't serve blacks, and they couldn't swim in public pools or sit on the main floor of most theaters."
Among the stories in Green's documentary:
• In 1949, Mary Green — then just 8 years old — picketed a Salt Lake movie theater that forced African-Americans and Hispanics to sit in the balcony.
• Archie Archuletta recalls walking into a bar where a sign declared, "No Mexicans or dogs allowed."
• University of Utah student Stephen Holbrook traveled to Mississippi in the summer of 1964 to assist with the voter registration drive. He ended up in jail.
• France Davis, pastor at Salt Lake's Calvary Baptist Church, participated in the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965. In 1972, he moved to Utah and discovered a new form of discrimination.
Green said that Darius Gray, an African-American member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, surprised her with a story "about the amount of fear and racial tension that existed in Utah in the late '60s, early '70s."
"There were rumors that a mob of black men were on their way to Utah to pillage the temple," Green said. "Plans were actually made to mobilize the National Guard, and people were arming themselves. Of course, the rumors never materialized, but it speaks to that underlying fear that I think, to some extent, still exists today."
"Utah's Freedom Riders" isn't pretty, and it doesn't reflect well on the state or its history. But Green said she's thinks it's important for Utahns to face their past.
"Addressing racism is uncomfortable, but it's critical," she said. "If we don't face the fact that we have a bias, then we are stuck. We cannot progress. Although we've made great strides in dealing with racism, we still face serious disparities in Utah in education, health care, and our criminal justice system.
"Unless we look at the underlying attitudes that shape inequality in our state and nation, we won't be able to address these issue. And we'll pay the price, economically and socially."
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