Two civil rights leaders dead, but one is ignored
Daily Pepper is expressing my own outrage: Why is Betty Friedan's death not getting the same attention Coretta Scott King's is? Both were major civil rights leaders, and Friedan's work led to an entire movement. If ever there were two deaths that deserved the nation's top attention, it is these, but Friedan has left us with barely a stirring remark made.
posted by Diane at 2:12 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
This question you pose begs us to ask ourselves: have we women made our demands for equal rights as ardently as blacks? We certainly haven't rioted (at least violently we haven't). We haven't burned down neighborhoods in frustration, nor have we recruited other women into militant organizations and started wearing uniforms to express our frustration and determination. I can't say that I am comfortable with those ways of changing America, and I don't know any women who would be. But these tactics worked, didn't they? I think our society has a long way to evolve, before reason and compassion can change our collective lives as effectively as violence and anger. Women will wait, and quietly exert their influence, as we have for all time. Let's just hope that the forces of violence, selfishness and anger don't enslave us or annihilate us in the meantime.
By
Anonymous, at
8:03 PM
There is currently no movement recognized by mainstream America; that is part of the problem. During the Second Wave, people had to listen to us because we wouldn't shut up, no matter how much abuse was heaped upon us. And a lot of change took place.
Militancy has worked only partially for African Americans (not to imply that the majority of African Americans favor it); racism is very strong in America.
I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that strong leaders are needed--leaders like Friedan and Steinem and Mink and Brownmiller and Schroeder and all of them.
Of course, the other question that begs to be asked is: Would Coretta Scott King's death be such a big event in America if she hadn't been Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr.?
By
Diane, at
9:13 PM
Not everybody forgot. So now we must work for others to remember.
By
Anonymous, at
9:15 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home