I recently posted the following on my personal Facebook page because it was Sunday and I don’t work on Sundays. However, because I am an African-American, female, lawyer, an example of the mixed ideals that can be realized, and have experienced first-hand how those ideals can be jeopardized by hatred and ignorance, I am compelled to share it here:
May we all recognize that our country, the United States of America, has yet to be free from the tentacles of hatred, racism, sexism, and all the ugly isms that comprise the darker side of humanity. These tentacles pervade every system that we and our children depend on, including the “justice” and “educational” systems. This summer, Americans witnessed the turning back of civil rights to the days where: it was acceptable to kill, rape, or beat someone because of the color of their skin or their gender; it was acceptable to preclude citizens from voting because of the color of their skin; it was acceptable to treat women as objects to be used and discarded in employment because men could not control themselves; and it was acceptable to erect and sustain barriers to educational equality for people of color. So, sadly, let us recognize that the days of uplifting the whole of our country, where equality for all instead of economy for some was the objective and seen as a duty of most of our citizens, is over. Some of us will continue to fight for equality but many of us will not even when the U.S. spells “us.”
