FIFTY YEARS GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

It is the anniversary of the great civil rights legislation of 1964. I have been blessed with a especially long life. Because I have had such a good life, I usually do not like to think about bad experiences; nevertheless, I have seen first hand some terrible things that hover in my mind. Like most people, by remembering the good, I blot out some of the bad stuff. Lately, our government in North Carolina, similarly government in a number of other Southern States, forced me to think about some of the things that most young people can only read to know. I don’t think they really ever sense the anguish and humiliation they would have by being there when it happened.

I listen to people like ex-governor Haley Barber say such things, as he didn’t know about racial tension of his college campus—confidently forgetting that blacks were not allowed on campus. This is like milk toast compared to lynched bodies jokingly referred to a fruits “hanging from popular trees”. That happened but was unusual. What was “everyday” common is the fact that in what Joe Scarborough fondly referees to as the red neck Riviera, black people could not use a restroom or a drinking fountain in a bus or train station. Joe, that is something that should shame you! Tie this to a sheriff who threatens to arrest them for urinating behind a building, where white people pointed out they act like animals. How about the joke that a black man being refused a room in a hotel until he explained that he wasn’t black but was a Nigerian—real funny.

In North Carolina, we have Thom Tillis, aspiring to higher office based on his legislative accomplishments, passing laws in 2013 to prevent black people from voting. Accuse him of that and he will say that it is not true when everyone knows it is true. What is worse, that is why they will vote for him. If you think that is bad look at the Supreme Court of the United States declaring prejudice is dead so we do not need civil right laws, which is what they did, essentially legalizing voter discrimination. We are making progress but it is painfully slow. Perhaps it is my bitter memories that make is seem that way. However, I also have prejudices. I never will be able to look at white people from New Orleans as being nice people after what I saw happen there on the front steps of a hotel 50 years ago. This may be unfair on my part but I sure can clearly see that same type behavior duplicated today in the Republican Party of North Carolina.   

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