Joan’s face once appeared on a KKK wanted poster. When someone was killed, their face was X-ed out. Joan’s face was never X-ed out. Because she survived—against the odds, against the violence, against the hatred.
She survived. And she kept fighting.
“You should not waste any time on fear,” Joan says. “Fear paralyzes your brain and keeps you from thinking what you need to be doing. It doesn’t do you any good. It gets you killed.”
Joan Trumpauer Mulholland speaks from experience. She faced death more than once. And she never let fear stop her.
Because some things are worth fighting for. Even if it costs you everything.
“I want to show the younger folks that you can do something that will have an effect,” she said. “It’s just a matter of starting.”
So start. That’s what Joan would tell you. Pick the problem that bothers you most. And do something about it.
Because if a 19-year-old white girl from Virginia could stand up to the KKK, survive death row, and change history…
