First Five Live: Freedom Rider Rip Patton and Freedom Fighters DC’s Philomena Wankenge

Former Freedom Rider Ernest “Rip” Patton and Philomena Wankenge, a Black Lives Matter activist and a founder of Freedom Fighters DC, discuss the evolution of civil rights activism and their roles in the movement.

Patton took part in the May 24, 1961 Greyhound Freedom Ride to Jackson, Miss., to challenge a segregated interstate travel system. Wankenge is a founder of Freedom Fighters DC, a force behind many of the marches and demonstrations against racism and police brutality.

USA TODAY Washington correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry will moderate the conversation.

First Five Live is a Freedom Forum conversation series featuring activists and influencers sharing stories about how they have exercised the five freedoms of the First Amendment — religion, speech, press, assembly and petition — to ignite change.