Fists Across America
I publish this image on my blog for a couple of reasons and I must admit I am profoundly amazed at the irony.
When I became aware of the disappointing outcome of Prop 2, 8 and 102, as well as, the legal adoption case in Arkansas, I was overwhelmed with sadness.
My joy in the outcome of the Presidential election, was overshadowed by the emergence of hatred and segregation that had come to pass.
Here is where the irony lies for me.
Before seeing any of the reaction from Americans, to the results of the propositions I mentioned above, an image so powerful became instantly emblazoned in my mind and now that image has become part of the movement to encourage people to stand up and "Join The Impact".
To what I am referring to is the 1968 Summer Olympics, held in Mexico, when Tommie Smith and John Carlos took their rightful places on the medal podium and with heads bowed raised their arms and clenched their fists in the Black Power Salute.
I was completely unaware of this event until I had watched a special on the CBC about the history, of controversy in the Olympics prior to the Olympics being held in Beijing.
As a side note, I will admit I did find the broadcast really interesting and the CBC has come a LONG way in how it now produces its documentaries.
At the time I was watching this documentary, I did not clue in to the fact that this display of solidarity, did not occur until 13 years after Rosa Parks. I had heard of Rosa Parks but why had I not heard of this?
So here we are, as humankind, with the United States on the stage, for being a country that had enslaved black people, finally abolished slavery in 1865, had now elected a President that has black skin, » 01 has taken as long as until 1967 to allow interracial marriage; can stand up proud as a united nation after stripping the rights of its own flesh and blood and self proclaiming the entity that it is, as the "Leader of the Free World".
I cannot apologise for pointing out the obvious, clearly the residents of 4 states voted in favour of segregation, discrimination, separation and division.
NOT for equality and unity.
So here is my question to you.
I really don't care what state you live in or even what country you live in, what gender you are, what gender you love, what gender you are intimate with.
What I do care about is this. What are YOU going to do?
As I was working this out, I was speaking online and on the telephone with a friend of mine » 02 to use him as a sounding board and he said something that really hit me hard and I had to scribble it down.
What will they take next?
Which reminds me of the quote that I posted earlier;
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Think about that.
I can't speak for others north of the 49th but my fist is up! Is yours?
As a side note: When I was trying to come up with a title for this post as I was staring at that image the name came to me - honourable mention if you can tell me where I pulled it from.
Here Are the Foot Notes...
- now someone really needs to help me understand this - why is it if you have 2 white parents your a white, 2 black parents you are black and then if one parent is white and the other is black you are called black? ↩
- Thanks D ↩
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I work with a women at Applebee's. She describes herself as "brown". She is thrilled that Obama is now Prez Elect. She calls him brown. I asked her but his mother is white and I thought that you are the race of your mother. So, shouldn't he be white? She said that if you have 1/16th black in you, you are concidered black. I don't get it.
Hey Turnip Head! I just heard the Big Fatty interview. Good work! I love Toronto. I have family in Youngstown, NY just across the pond from you. Well I guess it's ex family now.. Oh well. I Twitter too. There's a link on my blog site. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new BB. Then I can tweet all day. I read somewhere that people pair up because we need to have someone witness our lives. I think that's true. Twitter allows us to ave a room full of witnesses 24/7.
Great post re: The Fist. I was 15 in 1967 and I remember that Olympic medal ceremony. The reason you haven't heard about is because at that time everything was changing and the Black Power Salute as it was called was appearing everywhere. '67 was the The Summer of Love after all. That was the mood of the country. When Rosa Parks refused to change her seat on the bus she wasn't aided by the flow of a society in flux. She was one small woman moving something huge , angry and entrenched.... like the man with the shopping bags standing in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square.
Still and yet that moment at that medal ceremony was breath taking. I can feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck when I contemplate our movement using that image as or own.
Jane