On this day in 1964, after an 83-day filibuster, the United States Senate finally passed the Civil Rights Act, when Senate leader Everett Dirksen said, "We dare not temporize with the issue which is before us. It is essentially moral in character. It must be resolved. It will not go away. It's time has come." Still, when it comes to the rights of people of color, the more things change, the more they stay the same.While you watch, by the way, don't forget to consider the bull-headed commitment required to keep the Senate frozen for 83 days in an attempt to prevent the vote from happening at all. They read dictionaries, recipes, anything they could get their hands on. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia alone gave a speech more than fourteen hours long! These days, we go to war with less thought. But that’s how intensely they felt about not recognizing the rights of African-Americans as U.S. citizens. And people of color may sometimes feel that the filibuster, in many ways, has gone on and on and on…
I remember that day. I remember the filibuster and all the ranting and raving this country went through to get the law. Some still refuse to accept the law. Hate is a very deep scar.
ReplyDeleteI was surfing blogs and I pretty liked yours. Satrapi interview was great. I invite you to visit mine; I've just opened it yesterday, it's called AGON and it's political philosophy (and more...) blog. The main (it's in spanish, that's why I clear up that in here) is to share works of ourselves, social scientists, grduated or students.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me for my poor English,
Facundo Bey
facundo.bey@gmail.com
Mary: I remember it, too, though I was still young enough to be mostly caught up in graduating from high school and taking advantage of the opportunities connected to the unrecognized privilege that could be and was expected by those with my skin tone.
ReplyDeleteFacundo: Welcome, mi hermano! I am most gratified to see you here. My spanish is almost useless, but your English is quite adequate for us to communicate. You will hear from me shortly.