My review of the speech given by President Obama at the ceremony marking the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.
The end.
My review of the speech given by President Obama at the ceremony marking the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.
The end.
Tagged civil rights, history, March on Washington, Obama, oratory
I just listened to John Lewis being interviewed in his Congressional office by Gwen Ifil for The News Hour. Lewis is the last surviving speaker from the 1963 March; he was also the youngest – just 22 years old. It was a moving interview, well worth seeking out at pbs.org.
This was the anthem. Then – and always.
I think I did pretty well with my SCOTUS predictions, which means everyone must “bow to my majesty” (much preferable to being “mocked without mercy”).
(Here’s something from back when this lad had a voice, a beautiful one):
Posted in Constitution, human rights
Tagged civil rights, DOMA, marriage equality, Prop 8, SCOTUS
WASHINGTON, DC — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is touted as a top GOP presidential prospect in 2016, thinks it should be legal to fire someone for their sexual orientation.
So sayeth the boy-faced pretend immigrant.
Posted in human rights, Politics
Tagged civil rights, equal rights, Human rights, Politics, Rubio, sex discrimination
Anti-choice Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) just filed an anti-choice amendment to a bill related to agriculture, transportation, housing, and other programs. The DeMint amendment could bar discussion of abortion over the Internet and through videoconferencing, even if a woman’s health is at risk and if this kind of communication with her doctor is her best option to receive care.
Under this amendment, women would need a separate, segregated Internet just for talking about abortion care with their doctors.
Posted in abortion, Congress critters, feminism, health care, Idiot sighting, Politics, religion, Science
Tagged abortion, civil rights, Politics, women's rights
So Argentina has made gay marriage fully legal in the country. Well, good for them. Here’s a video Ed sent me – says it all really.
Robert Byrd was a man of his times and as the times changed so did he. Byrd experienced and contributed to the entire canvas that was 20th century America.
As a young man he was a member of the Klu Klux Klan and carried his Southern racism into the Senate. In 1964 he voted against the Civil Rights Act. That was Robert Byrd.
But he moved on; he grew with the century and with the country (his attitude toward race parallels a journey taken by my own father).
Here is Robert Byrd’s journey from 1944 to 2003:
1944:
“ | I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side… Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds. | ” |
2004:
In the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People‘s (NAACP)[59] Congressional Report Card for the 108th Congress (spanning the 2003–2004 congressional session), Byrd was awarded with an approval rating of 100 percent for favoring the NAACP’s position in all 33 bills presented to the United States Senate regarding issues of their concern.
He served way too long in the Senate of course but that guaranteed his place in the history books by virtue of longevity alone.
Byrd was known as the parliamentarian of the Senate, an unofficial title conferred because no one knew the arcane convoluted rules of that body better than he did. And long before Newt Gingrich turned it into a political gimmick, Byrd carried his copy of the Constitution in his breast pocket and consulted it often while on the floor of the Senate.
He gave one of the most honorable speeches of his career in 2003 – a very underreported speech. His voice echoed around a nearly empty chamber as he – a man who’d lived through two world wars – appealed to President Bush to tamp down his zeal for a war of aggression.
He’d overstayed his time certainly and we still need his voice.
The 2003 speech:
Posted in Civics, Congress critters
Tagged American history, Civics, civil rights, Robert Byrd, the Senate
Gay activists, according to this article in the leading gay publication The Advocate, are ‘desperate’ for Obama to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I absolutely understand; they must continue the pressure until it happens, else – in the nature of things – it’ll be pushed down the road forever.
Here’s the ‘but’: politics matters and unless Obama plays the politics right and chooses his time carefully, I don’t think the repeal will happen at all in this administration. And if he is followed by a Republican, progress could be delayed for a decade or more.
Think the Clinton 1993 health care disaster. Choosing the right time is part of the art of the possible.
Posted in Civics, Current Events, Politics, The President-who-is-not-Bush
Tagged civil rights, DADT, The Advocate