As we engage in a heightened struggle for civil rights today, we bid farewell to two great civil rights leaders: C.T. Vivian and John Lewis, who recently passed over. In their passing we must commit to make “good trouble” and take the fight onward & upward. Frederick Douglass said, “Advocate, advocate, advocate; Power concedes nothing without a demand”. It’s time to rename the Edmund Pettus (KKK Grand-Dragon) bridge to: John Lewis bridge, in Selma, Alabama, where Lewis suffered a concussion at the hands of a militarized police force, beating the peaceful protesters marching across that bridge in 1965. Today we see, in Portland, Oregon, unidentified storm-troopers, “POLICE” emblazoned on their desert camo, accosting peaceful protesters, committing unreasonable search & seizures, basically kidnapping people, not reading them Miranda rights, tossing them in unmarked vans, some released days later. One such young man was shot in the head with a supposedly “nonlethal” bullet; he suffered a fractured skull, concussion, and underwent facial surgery, but survived. Portland’s mayor & governor asked the troops to leave Oregon, asked president Trump to remove the federal paramilitary troops he deployed, stating their presence was unnecessary & unwanted. So as ‘Freedom fighters’, in 2020, take to the streets, to make “good trouble” we again face brutal police forces, one big difference being: the peaceful protesters are NOT mainly Blacks!
Asheville, North Carolina’s city council passed an historic resolution on July 14, 2020, “approving Reparations for Black residents”. The measure passed unanimously, 7-0, and is not payments to individuals, but a commitment to provide funding to promote minority home ownership, minority business ownership, career opportunities, strategies to grow equity & generational wealth, close gaps in healthcare, education, employment & wages; and apologized for their role in slavery, discrimination & denial of basic liberties to Black residents, and voted to provide reparations to their descendants. “Hundreds of years of Black blood spilled that basically fills the cup we drink from today; it is simply NOT enough to remove statues. Black people in this country are dealing with issues that are systemic in nature”, said Councilman Keith Young. Councilman, Vijay Kapoor, who supported the measure for moral and practical reasons: data shows large disparities between African Americans & other Asheville residents; Kapoor said, “We don’t want to be held back by these gaps, we want everyone to be successful”. More cities & communities will follow their lead, with organizations, churches, corporations, universities joining this moral imperative!
Trish Forsyth Voss
Jul 26 2020
Isn’t it ironic?
As we engage in a heightened struggle for civil rights today, we bid farewell to two great civil rights leaders: C.T. Vivian and John Lewis, who recently passed over. In their passing we must commit to make “good trouble” and take the fight onward & upward. Frederick Douglass said, “Advocate, advocate, advocate; Power concedes nothing without a demand”. It’s time to rename the Edmund Pettus (KKK Grand-Dragon) bridge to: John Lewis bridge, in Selma, Alabama, where Lewis suffered a concussion at the hands of a militarized police force, beating the peaceful protesters marching across that bridge in 1965. Today we see, in Portland, Oregon, unidentified storm-troopers, “POLICE” emblazoned on their desert camo, accosting peaceful protesters, committing unreasonable search & seizures, basically kidnapping people, not reading them Miranda rights, tossing them in unmarked vans, some released days later. One such young man was shot in the head with a supposedly “nonlethal” bullet; he suffered a fractured skull, concussion, and underwent facial surgery, but survived. Portland’s mayor & governor asked the troops to leave Oregon, asked president Trump to remove the federal paramilitary troops he deployed, stating their presence was unnecessary & unwanted. So as ‘Freedom fighters’, in 2020, take to the streets, to make “good trouble” we again face brutal police forces, one big difference being: the peaceful protesters are NOT mainly Blacks!
Asheville, North Carolina’s city council passed an historic resolution on July 14, 2020, “approving Reparations for Black residents”. The measure passed unanimously, 7-0, and is not payments to individuals, but a commitment to provide funding to promote minority home ownership, minority business ownership, career opportunities, strategies to grow equity & generational wealth, close gaps in healthcare, education, employment & wages; and apologized for their role in slavery, discrimination & denial of basic liberties to Black residents, and voted to provide reparations to their descendants. “Hundreds of years of Black blood spilled that basically fills the cup we drink from today; it is simply NOT enough to remove statues. Black people in this country are dealing with issues that are systemic in nature”, said Councilman Keith Young. Councilman, Vijay Kapoor, who supported the measure for moral and practical reasons: data shows large disparities between African Americans & other Asheville residents; Kapoor said, “We don’t want to be held back by these gaps, we want everyone to be successful”. More cities & communities will follow their lead, with organizations, churches, corporations, universities joining this moral imperative!
Trish Forsyth Voss
By spiritspeak • Letter to the Editor 0