Did we win? What did we win?

Rebirth of a Realist


Now that the great show and political performances at Rosa
Park’s funereal are over, it is time for a reality check.
I have worked for human rights and equality most of my adult life.
In March of 1965 I joined Martin Luther King and marched from Selma-to-Montgomery Alabama. I later signed on again to register voters and march in Mississippi. In 1969 I was the liaison person between the city of Hartford and the Black and Puerto Rican caucus when the city was experiencing the out of control violence spreading across America.
It was a time when most of us still clung to Kings dream that America will, at last, grow up. I have since become cynical and not very hopeful of that happening. King said, " It is not enough to throw a coin to a beggar, but one must address the edifice that creates beggars." I thought about those words as I watched the shameless performance at the Rosa Parks burial.
When Opra Winfry made her speech about how Rosa stood up so she could be the billionaire that she is, I wondered what Rosa would think of the great show. Then there was Jesse Jackson and the other regulars basking in the TV lights at the Gala event.
Recently I have been giving talks titled, "Did we win, and if so what did we win?" I tell the audience the fact that schools in America are more segregated today than they were when Rosa kept her seat. The truth is,
poverty among minorities today is worse than it was when Rosa sat down in the bus. The wall between the suburbs and the inner city is thicker than it was then and the fear that exists in the suburbs is worse than it was then.
When the New York Times prints the fact that almost fifty percent of
young Black males in New York are without work we better all stop and ask the question ;did we win and if so what did we win.
In 1969 a member of the Quaker Meeting house brought a young Black friend of his into a meeting I was having on the subject of violence and to warn about the growing anger. The young man said, "to think that violence will come to Hartford is preposterous." Two days later the city was on fire and the mayor clearly not able to touch reality issued a statement that the violence and burning were the result of, " outside agitators stirring up trouble."
She had no idea of the anger growing in her own community. Today in France and other European countries, as well as all over Latin America, we hear the same thing from out of touch so called leaders. Yes, it can happen again in America and it will happen soon if we all do not face reality
and work towards equality in education and equal justice for all. With the frightening high school drop out rate and the proliferation of guns and drugs in our cities we all better act now.