“Open your mouth for the …rights of all who are left desolate and defenseless; Open your mouth, judge righteously, and administer justice for the poor and needy.”
~ Proverbs 31:8,9
Now Daddy didn't like trouble, but if it came along
Everyone that knew him knew which side that he'd be on
He never was a hero, or this county's shinin' light
But you could always find him standing up
For what he thought was right
He'd say you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything
You've got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string
Never compromise what's right and uphold your family name
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything
“You’ve got to stand for something” ~ recorded by Aaron Tippin
Everyone that knew him knew which side that he'd be on
He never was a hero, or this county's shinin' light
But you could always find him standing up
For what he thought was right
He'd say you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything
You've got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string
Never compromise what's right and uphold your family name
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything
“You’ve got to stand for something” ~ recorded by Aaron Tippin
“To say what you think will certainly damage you in society;
but a free tongue is worth more than a thousand invitations.”
but a free tongue is worth more than a thousand invitations.”
~ Logan Pearsall Smith, writer, c. 1930
Last Monday, May 17th, I was one of the thousands of people who had the privilege of attending the grand opening of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine. Several dignitaries also attended the ceremony, including President George W. Bush.
It was a fitting celebration for the landmark case which clearly established that separate educational facilities were “inherently unequal", thus violating the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution which guarantees all citizens equal protection under the law.
Later that evening, Keen and I attended the powerful production of “Now Let Me Fly” at the Topeka Performing Arts Center. The play was written by award winning Topeka playwright, Marcia Cebulska and depicted various scenes in locations such as a barbershop, school auditorium, burned down church and a courthouse during the years leading up to the Brown v. Board decision. “They were regular, most of them were working-class people," Cebulska said of people involved in the case. "They stood up for what they believed. They took extraordinary risks. I think that's inspiring for us." (The Topeka-Capital Journal, February 13, 2004)
“Courage means going against majority opinion in the name of truth.”
~ Vaclav Havel, Czech playright, 2000
Ordinary people – just like you and me – changed the way an entire class of people would be treated. They knew in their hearts that they weren’t any different than their white neighbors. They knew in their hearts that it was inherently wrong for their children to be forced to walk clear across town past other schools to attend a dilapidated old schoolhouse. They knew that their facilities were not separate and equal, as the law required, but rather separate and unequal. But most felt powerless to do anything about it. Those few who took the risk and fought for what they believed in made a huge difference – not just for their children, but for black children everywhere.
Barbara Rose Johns from Farmville, Virginia, was one of those courageous teenagers who led a student strike in the fight for integrated schools. “It was something I just had to do,” she explained. Death threats later forced her to leave the state. The following is an excerpt of Barbara’s thoughts taken from the script of Now Let Me Fly.
Every morning I get on a bus thrown away by the white high school on the hill. I sit on a torn seat and look out a broken window. And when my bus passes the shiny new bus that the white high schoolers have, I hide my face 'cause I'm embarrassed in my raggedy bus. And when we get to R. R. Moton High, the bus driver gets off with us, 'cause he's also our history teacher. He comes in the classroom and fires up the stove and I sit in my winter coat waiting for the room to get warm. You know the rooms, the ones in the "addition" as they call it. We call them "the tar paper shacks" because that's what they are, am I right? I'm embarrassed that I go to school in tar paper shacks and when it rains I have to open an umbrella so the leaks from the roof won't make the ink run on my paper. And later in the day I have a hygiene class out in that broken-down bus and a biology class in a corner of the auditorium with one microscope for the whole school. I'm embarrassed that our water fountains are broken and our wash basins are broken and it seems our whole school is broken and crowded and poor…
But my embarrassment is nothing compared to my hunger. I'm not talking about my hunger for food, though it would be right nice to have a cafeteria with lunch instead of just sticky buns like we get. No, I'm hungry for those shiny books they have up at Farmville High. I want the page of the Constitution that is torn out of my social studies book. I want a chance at that "Romeo and Juliet" I've heard about but they tell me I'm not fit to read.
Our teachers say we can fly just as high as anyone else. That's what I want to do. Fly just as high. I said, fly. You know, I've been sitting in my embarrassment and my hunger for so long that I forgot about standing up. So, today, I'm going to ask you to stand with me. Before we fly, before we fly just as high as anyone else, we gotta walk just as proud as anyone else. And that's what we're going to do! We're gonna walk out of this school and over to the court house. Do you hear me? We're gonna walk with our heads high and go talk to the school board. Are you with me? We're gonna walk out in a strike, yes, I said strike, and we won't come back until we get a real school with a gymnasium and library and whole books. And we will get them. And it'll be grand. Are you with me? Are we gonna walk? Are we gonna fly?”
The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one else has ever been.”
~ Alan Ashley-Pitt, author
It was a fitting celebration for the landmark case which clearly established that separate educational facilities were “inherently unequal", thus violating the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution which guarantees all citizens equal protection under the law.
Later that evening, Keen and I attended the powerful production of “Now Let Me Fly” at the Topeka Performing Arts Center. The play was written by award winning Topeka playwright, Marcia Cebulska and depicted various scenes in locations such as a barbershop, school auditorium, burned down church and a courthouse during the years leading up to the Brown v. Board decision. “They were regular, most of them were working-class people," Cebulska said of people involved in the case. "They stood up for what they believed. They took extraordinary risks. I think that's inspiring for us." (The Topeka-Capital Journal, February 13, 2004)
“Courage means going against majority opinion in the name of truth.”
~ Vaclav Havel, Czech playright, 2000
Ordinary people – just like you and me – changed the way an entire class of people would be treated. They knew in their hearts that they weren’t any different than their white neighbors. They knew in their hearts that it was inherently wrong for their children to be forced to walk clear across town past other schools to attend a dilapidated old schoolhouse. They knew that their facilities were not separate and equal, as the law required, but rather separate and unequal. But most felt powerless to do anything about it. Those few who took the risk and fought for what they believed in made a huge difference – not just for their children, but for black children everywhere.
Barbara Rose Johns from Farmville, Virginia, was one of those courageous teenagers who led a student strike in the fight for integrated schools. “It was something I just had to do,” she explained. Death threats later forced her to leave the state. The following is an excerpt of Barbara’s thoughts taken from the script of Now Let Me Fly.
Every morning I get on a bus thrown away by the white high school on the hill. I sit on a torn seat and look out a broken window. And when my bus passes the shiny new bus that the white high schoolers have, I hide my face 'cause I'm embarrassed in my raggedy bus. And when we get to R. R. Moton High, the bus driver gets off with us, 'cause he's also our history teacher. He comes in the classroom and fires up the stove and I sit in my winter coat waiting for the room to get warm. You know the rooms, the ones in the "addition" as they call it. We call them "the tar paper shacks" because that's what they are, am I right? I'm embarrassed that I go to school in tar paper shacks and when it rains I have to open an umbrella so the leaks from the roof won't make the ink run on my paper. And later in the day I have a hygiene class out in that broken-down bus and a biology class in a corner of the auditorium with one microscope for the whole school. I'm embarrassed that our water fountains are broken and our wash basins are broken and it seems our whole school is broken and crowded and poor…
But my embarrassment is nothing compared to my hunger. I'm not talking about my hunger for food, though it would be right nice to have a cafeteria with lunch instead of just sticky buns like we get. No, I'm hungry for those shiny books they have up at Farmville High. I want the page of the Constitution that is torn out of my social studies book. I want a chance at that "Romeo and Juliet" I've heard about but they tell me I'm not fit to read.
Our teachers say we can fly just as high as anyone else. That's what I want to do. Fly just as high. I said, fly. You know, I've been sitting in my embarrassment and my hunger for so long that I forgot about standing up. So, today, I'm going to ask you to stand with me. Before we fly, before we fly just as high as anyone else, we gotta walk just as proud as anyone else. And that's what we're going to do! We're gonna walk out of this school and over to the court house. Do you hear me? We're gonna walk with our heads high and go talk to the school board. Are you with me? We're gonna walk out in a strike, yes, I said strike, and we won't come back until we get a real school with a gymnasium and library and whole books. And we will get them. And it'll be grand. Are you with me? Are we gonna walk? Are we gonna fly?”
The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one else has ever been.”
~ Alan Ashley-Pitt, author
STANDING TALL
By Eileen Umbehr
When right is wrong
and wrong is right
Do you run and hide,
or embark on a fight?
If you run, you avoid
a prolonged struggle
No conflict, no worries
no lawyer bills to juggle.
But change doesn't happen
when your head's in the sand
It takes courage and commitment
to take a stand.
What would have happened
if Rosa Parks had backed down?
Would we all be equal,
black, white & brown?
Sticking your neck out
indeed, has it's price
It is rarely popular
and involves sacrifice.
Your critics will be many
your supporters few
But hold on to your dreams
and one day they'll come true.
By Eileen Umbehr
When right is wrong
and wrong is right
Do you run and hide,
or embark on a fight?
If you run, you avoid
a prolonged struggle
No conflict, no worries
no lawyer bills to juggle.
But change doesn't happen
when your head's in the sand
It takes courage and commitment
to take a stand.
What would have happened
if Rosa Parks had backed down?
Would we all be equal,
black, white & brown?
Sticking your neck out
indeed, has it's price
It is rarely popular
and involves sacrifice.
Your critics will be many
your supporters few
But hold on to your dreams
and one day they'll come true.
“In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew....Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
~ Protestant minister Martin Neimoller reflecting upon Germany’s fall to the Nazis
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing " ~ Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
~ Protestant minister Martin Neimoller reflecting upon Germany’s fall to the Nazis
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing " ~ Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
