Yesterday: hundreds of longtime couples marry at last. Credit: Creative Commons
Those of us who have grown up in the industrialized Western world have been fed a steady diet of faith in progress, dating back to the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. We were told that between the ongoing evolution and maturation of the human species, especially the freeing of our minds from the shackles of superstition and faith and replacing it with reason, and the astounding accomplishments and discoveries of science and technology, life will continue to improve. There may be setbacks, and still, on the whole, we are on a path towards a bright future.
Why my grief ultimately is the more pronounced is that I have some modicum of knowledge about the immensity of what it took to create the conditions for the U.S. Congress and President to accept the Voting Rights Act in 1965. The amount of mobilization, the amount of love and courage, the amount of strategy and leadership, and the immense suffering of so many to achieve these goals are inconceivable to me at this time. All the more grief because here we are, once again being in a position where, if we want to protect the rights of some people to have access to the meager participation in decision making that electoral politics offers, we will need that same kind of genius and determination, because the legal recourse is no longer there. The children in this image from 1965 saying “Let our parents vote” are now in their 60s and have been able to vote all their adult lives, so long as they didn’t run foul of the New Jim Crow, but now may have to fight the fight over again for themselves and their own offspring. I sure hope this time around there will be more white people working with them than back then, willing to take risks to transform the system that still bars so many people from full access to basic civil and human rights.
If the Supreme Court can lope off part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act 48 years after its enactment , you can believe that 48 years from now they can change their vote and strike down the law allowing Gay couples equal access to marriage privileges. This is not an enlightened era. The same prejudices still exist. I lived through the 1960s when we thought those were the enlightened generation. It’s a reality of mankind so be ever vigilant of the theft of our rights. Freedom is a precious thing we must protect in all times.