90 Years Later

A very important anniversary is taking place this last week. Do you know it? August 20 marks the 90th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

The right to vote. It's a powerful thing, to be able to cast your vote. To be able to speak up, even symbolically, about what is important and who you want to lead and what issues deserve funding. But recognizing this civil right is only the beginning. Read this article by Carol Peasley to see what else needs to be done. Read the text of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and educate yourself.

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now I say that with cruelty and oppression it is everybody's business to interfere when they see it. -- Anna Sewell

While there is a lower class I am in it, while there is a criminal element I am of it, while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. -- Eugene V. Debs

I asked them why one read in the synagogue service every week the 'I thank thee, O Lord, that I was not born a woman.' "It is not meant in an unfriendly spirit, and it is not intended to degrade and humiliate women" [they said.] But it does, nevertheless. Suppose the service read, 'I thank thee, O Lord, that I was not born a jackass.' Could that be twisted in any way into a compliment to the jackass? - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. - Martin Luther King, Jr.


What can you do to eliminate discrimination?