I sat in front of my box of wires and light today. And today it was more light than wires. Today I was transported to the Civil Rights Movement which my mother thought it was just a bad movie and she prayed that my fascination with "negroes" and their advancement would pass which like so many things in my life deepened and never passed.
I wish I knew more of Mrs. King. I really didn't. But one of my best days on planet earth was going to Mr Lincoln's Tomb to meet Rev. Joseph Lowery in 1982. Today, Rev Lowery gave 'em hell. Standing just a few feet in front of George W, Rev Lowery said that we all know there are no weapons of mass destruction over there and that there are weapons of misdirection here.
Four Presidents were in attendance. Seeing those four men sitting to the right of the podium, what a strange array of men. Jimmy Carter, the man of the social gospel, asking to name the true Prince of Peace and mentioning the FBI wire tapping and harassment of Mrs. King. Bill Clinton, humanitarian, the man of letters and learning. George, friend of the Saudis. George W, the self-appointed king whom god has told to kill in the name of freedom. Do the Bushes know that Mrs King was a pacifist?
Ah the women, the women, the women; Yolanda King, Bernice King, Maya Angelou, Myrlie Evers and, more dazzling than I could have imagined, Attallah Shabazz. To my delight, I heard Maya Angelou invoke the name of Winnie Mandela. Elder Bernice King gave the formal eulogy. She talked of the ovarian cancer than finally took her mother's life. She talked of the metaphor that the earth is suffering in its reproductive organs.
I got a few emails about my blog saying goodbye to Betty Friedan asking about the Second Wave. Oh, don't worry we old women will pass away and the Third Wave can dismiss us all. But until that day, I will not stop asking for all that I want. Occasionally someone asks what do I want -
I want John Adams to "remember the Ladies," pull out a chair and step aside.
I want to know what it would be like if women were the majority rule.
I want equality of rights under the law to not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
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