Civil Rights Movement

Centennial Of Rosa Parks’ Birth

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Today is the centennial of the birth of Rosa Parks, an ordinary African American woman who changed the course of history, when she was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white patron.

What Rosa Parks did sparked the true development of the civil rights movement in America, after many false starts and earlier Supreme Court decisions had failed to bring about enough public attention.

The courage and determination of Rosa Parks helped to bring the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. into public attention, as he led the Montgomery bus boycott, which began the fight against segregation in all public places, and led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 eight and a half years later.

Parks was memorialized upon her death in 2005, and given the honor of having her body lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, and a statue of Parks was commissioned for the Statuary Hall in the Capitol.

So on the centennial of her birth, this is a moment to celebrate in the long struggle for human freedom and dignity in America!

Public Inauguration Of President Obama On Martin Luther King Jr. Day On Monday

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The public inauguration of President Obama will be held at 12 Noon on Monday, January 21, which is also the day we celebrate the life and heritage of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A King Bible and an Abraham Lincoln Bible will be used to bring together the strands of the American past, connecting what Lincoln did–issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and working for the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which freed the slaves; and King’s leadership of the civil rights movement—both events the forerunner of the election and reelection of our first African American President of the United States, a major plus for the American image in the world.

It is expected that those who have come to celebrate the inauguration will number about half of the 1.8 million people, including this author, who attended in 2009.

This time, the author is watching on television from the comfort of his family room!

Momentous Day As Supreme Court Chooses To Pass Judgment On Gay Marriage!

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Today has been a very momentous day, as the United States Supreme Court has chosen to accept two cases on gay marriage, one involving the constitutionality of the Defense Of Marriage Act of 1996, and the other the validity of the passage of Proposition 8 in California, banning gay marriage.

This could be the blockbuster case of the present term, when it is decided in late June of 2013, after oral arguments in March.

This matter brings to mind the Loving V Virginia case of 1967, when the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the right of interracial couples to be able to marry, a very controversial and divisive case in the age of the Civil Rights Movement.

It should be pointed out that many Southerners and Christian religious leaders opposed interracial marriage bitterly, but once it was settled by the Supreme Court, the issue was moot.

The same opposition, heavily Southern and religiously based, is now vehemently against gay marriage, but the tides of history are going against a continuation of discrimination.

If gay marriage is accepted by the Court, after already being legal in nine states, no religious group would be required to marry a gay couple, but they could be married civilly by a judge or county clerk, or hire someone who is legally qualified to marry couples.

The belief is strong that the Court will rule at least 5-4, if not 6-3, for gay marriage rights, with the four Democratic appointments to the Court—Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan—voting for the majority, along with Justice Anthony Kennedy, and possibly Chief Justice John Roberts.

Kennedy is the key vote, but since he supported the right of gays to privacy in the Lawrence V. Texas case in 2003, and was, indeed, the decisive fifth vote, it is believed he will take a step further in support of this major step forward.

Roberts is an unknown quantity, but after his surprising vote for ObamaCare in June, it is believed he might join the majority on this significant case.

So now, ten years later, it looks likely that the Court will have evolved further, and the right of anyone to marry who they love will be guaranteed as a basic civil right.

This is basic social justice, and a majority in public opinion polls, and particularly the younger generation, support gay marriage.

No one is saying that there cannot be people who oppose gay marriage, but society does not have the right to use their prejudices and religious views to deny basic human rights to others!

Two Prestigious Scholars Blame The Republican Party For The Stalemate In The 112th Congress

Ronald 5 Comments

Two well known scholars, Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, have recently published a book and authored articles criticizing the Republican Party for the stalemate in the 112th Congress.

The Republican Party is blamed for its refusal to hold members of their party in Congress accountable for their wild statements; is seen as totally against compromise; refuses to accept facts, evidence and science; lacks respect for the legitimacy of the opposition party and its members; and is so far outside the mainstream as to be alarming for any hope of accomplishment of any goals or programs!

The two people most responsible for this extremism are former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Grover Norquist of the Americans for Tax Reform. But also the filibuster has been abused in the Senate, and prevented many executive branch appointments from being confirmed, both in the government agencies and in the court system.

The reaction to Roe V. Wade after 1973 mobilized social conservatives, while the tax revolt in California in 1978 mobilized anti tax activists. Also, the South turned conservative Republican after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s; and the rise of conservative talk radio, and the growing impact of Fox News on cable, also had a great impact on what has become a growing stalemate and gridlock.

Health care reform, climate change, economic recovery, deficits, and debt issues have become a chasm between the two major political parties. Polarization has become the norm, and is a dangerous trend which may continue, if the voters again send a confusing message of a divided Congress in the 2012 Congressional elections. The Tea Party movement, if it grows, will further create conflict at a time when we need negotiation and compromise!

This assessment is extremely worrisome, as it means that our national government may be totally paralyzed, when we need true statesmen in both parties dealing with our important national agenda!

An Inspiring Moment: Barack Obama At Henry Ford Museum Sitting In Rosa Parks Montgomery Bus

Ronald 2 Comments

Yesterday, while campaigning in Michigan, President Barack Obama visited the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, and sat in the seat of the bus that Rosa Parks sat in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the opening salvo of the civil rights movement in America!

It brought back the courage and principle of Rosa Parks, who was arrested, leading to the year long boycott led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who came from Atlanta, Georgia at age 26 to promote the cause.

This was one of the best photo opportunities involving President Obama in three years plus in public office, and it reminds us that the battle for civil rights is a never ending battle with no final victories, and requires our determination and stubbornness to make progress in the direction of human rights!

Rick Santorum And Barry Goldwater Would NOT Be Friends!

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Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater was the MOST right wing nominee for President we have ever had, and lost in a massive landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Barry Goldwater was an economic conservative, who was against the New Deal, wishing Robert Taft, the earlier conservative Republican leader, had become President, because he wished to repeal the New Deal, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower institutionalized the New Deal as the first Republican President since Herbert Hoover. Goldwater wished to make Social Security voluntary, rather than required as part of the tax collection, which it had been for a quarter century.

Barry Goldwater was also a foreign policy conservative, who believed in ultimate confrontation with the Soviet Union and any foreign enemy, including potential use of nuclear weapons.

Barry Goldwater appealed to states rights advocates, and although supportive of the broad concept of civil rights for African Americans, he criticized the civil rights movement and its leaders, and accepted the backing of Southern segregationists.

BUT with all of his faults, one thing Barry Goldwater was NOT–a social conservative a la former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Barry Goldwater was NOT a believer in the role of religion in government, and was a major critic in later years of the Christian Coalition, and the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and other evangelical Christian ministers.

Barry Goldwater never believed it was the business of government to interfere in private life of individuals and their families, so did not support the Pro Life Movement against abortion rights for women.

Barry Goldwater never believed it was anyone’s business to condemn or vilify people because of their sexual orientation, and so supported the rights of gay men and women.

Barry Goldwater believed that all Americans should be allowed to serve in the military, so was against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” interfering with the right of gay men and women to serve our nation, asserting that he did not care what one’s sexual orientation was, as long as he or she could “shoot straight!”

Barry Goldwater would have been mortified to see a candidate who condemned sexual relations except for procreation purposes, and to observe a candidate speak out against the use of contraception by couples for their family planning and the health and welfare of women.

It is clear that were Barry Goldwater alive and active today, he would repudiate Rick Santorum as a social totalitarian, an extremist, a dangerous man to give power to, as there is nothing worse than a “Puritan” trying to promote morality by force!

Conclusion: Barry Goldwater and Rick Santorum would NOT be friends!

Barry Goldwater came across as whacky, extreme, untrustworthy to be our President, and he often “shot from the lip”, getting himself into major troubles that could be exploited by Democrats and President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. IF Rick Santorum ends up as the GOP nominee in 2012, the same weaknesses will get him in major troubles that could be exploited by the Democrats and President Barack Obama!

A Great Moment: Groundbreaking For National Museum Of African American History And Culture On National Mall In Washington, DC!

Ronald 2 Comments

Today, the birthday of President George Washington, marks an important day in American History, and not just because of the celebration of the birth of our first President.

We also saw today the groundbreaking on the National Mall in Washington DC of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, due to be opened to the public in 2015. President and Mrs. Obama and Laura Bush took part in the ceremonies, along with other dignitaries.

The museum construction, enacted by Congress in 2003, will create the 19th museum under the aegis of the Smithsonian Institution, and is long overdue.

About 19,000 artifacts so far have been gathered for this museum, which will cover African American history and culture from slavery thorough the Civil War and Reconstruction, the age of segregation, the Civil Rights Movement, and modern times, including African American contributions to our culture, music, sports and every other area of American life.

This is a wonderful day, and everyone should look forward to this national contribution to our history, and recognition of the importance of African Americans to our history.

Shocking Maldistribution Of Wealth Due To Great Recession Of 2008: Pew Research Center Report

Ronald 5 Comments

A new Pew Research Center report demonstrates the alarming fact of the shocking maldistribution of wealth among the major racial groups in America, due to the Great Recession’s effect, and the findings should ring alarm bells among all Americans in regard to the likelihood of social turmoil and disarray that could, sadly, lead to violence, if nothing is done about the reality of the failure of the “American Dream”!

The study shows that white households are TWENTY times wealthier than African Americans, and EIGHTEEN times better off than Hispanic families.

These statistics are staggering and unprecedented, and show the stratification of American society is the worst it has ever been, and far surpasses any democratic nation in Western Europe or Japan.

The median white household in 2009 had a net worth of $113,000 as compared to an average of about $5,700 for black families and $6,300 for Hispanic households.

At the same time, poor families with zero or negative worth were found in one third of black and Hispanic families, but only 15 percent of white families.

The average median wealth of black families fell by 66 percent between 2006-2009, 53 percent for Hispanic households, and only 16 percent for white families.

The housing and unemployment crises and declining income during the Great Recession also harmed black and Hispanic families much more than white households.

The real danger is that even lower income whites have been identifying with the Republican Party, while minority voters continue to connect to the Democratic Party, so the racial conflict that seems to be developing is endangering the country, and seems similar to the old North-South split on slavery in the 19th century and the civil rights movement in the 20th century, but now based on race nationally, instead of in geographical regions.

It has to make one fear for the future civil peace of the nation, if this manifestation is allowed to continue unabated!

57 Years Ago Today, The Most Significant Supreme Court Decision Of The 20th Century!

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On this day in 1954, 57 years ago, the United States Supreme Court transformed America in a way never matched by any other decision of the entire 20th century!

The Court unanimously declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown V. Board Of Education Of Topeka, Kansas, a decision that ushered in the civil rights movement, not only in education, but in all areas of American society.

How far we have come, to the point that we have a black President, and have seen the successes of integration in American society to the point that there are many mixed race couples and children, and most Americans don’t even bat an eyelash at the changes that have come about.

Sure, there are still people in America who are racist, and that is true of all races. But the country is much better off for the courage of Chief Justice Earl Warren, who convinced the Justices of the Court of the absolute need for unanimity on the decision, and Associate Justice Hugo Black, who overcame his earlier Ku Klux Klan membership, to do the RIGHT THING!

It is hard to imagine a scenario whereby this decision had not come about, and to believe it possible that segregation would still be the law of the land.

This Brown decision is an example of the best that the Supreme Court has brought us in its 222 plus years of its history, and this is a moment to salute the Court and America for the wonderful event that occurred in 1954, and which we celebrate today!

A Momentous Early May Fifty Years Ago!

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In early May of 1961, two momentous events worthy of notice occurred, and it is now 50 years since those path breaking events!

On May 5, Alan Shepard was launched into space as the first American, astronaut, going up and down in a rocket in less than an hour, not as dramatic as Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union being launched into orbit 23 days earlier on April 12. Despite the Shepard launch being far less significant, it marked the beginning of the American manned space program, and later that month, on May 25, President John F. Kennedy would announce what seemed impossible at the time, the landing of Americans on the moon before 1970!

On May 9, the first Freedom Ride of black and white civil rights pioneers took place, the attempt to integrate interstate transportation on buses throughout Dixie, a daring and dangerous set of circumstances, which led to bloodshed and violence in Southern bus terminals and on the interstate highways, as Ku Klux Klan activists assaulted civil rights demonstrators and set buses on fire, along with other types of violence. But this reality led the US government to order federal marshals to enforce integration on interstate transportion, and also resulted later in 1961 in the issuance by the Interstate Commerce Commission of an integration order on all transportation within the United States!

The kind of pioneering spirit of Alan Shepard and other astronauts, and of civil rights activists who put their lives at risk to enforce equality, is worthy of notice and recognition and praise 50 years later!