On the eve of a history making democratic debate, I began to look back down the crossroads of time, reminiscent of how we got here.
As I strolled through the dark days for the sixties from Selma to Montgomery, I ran across an unfamilar name of a fallen soldier.
I am sure as most people, I did not recognize this fallen Civil Rights activist. The first thing that came to mine was,
"Viola Liuzzo who?"
I began to think out loud, this does not sound like a black person's name. Neither does this sound like a man's name. No, this person seems to be a white woman. Do you mean a white woman is among those who gave their lives for Hillary and Obama to face off tonight in an equal forum???
You know my cultural heart rate was off the charts. My consciousness was tasered by this revelation. Ms Liuzzo was a 39 years old mother of five who was murdered by the KKK in 1965 after the march to Mongomery march in Alabama.
Ms Liuzzo got involved with the civil rights movement after seeing the horrible images of the aborted march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She is noted to have said, this struggle, "was everybody's fight!"
Wow!
What a powerful statement!
A statement that is as relevent today as then.
So as we watch this historical debate tonight we must put this snapshot into perscective. Not only has this been a long time coming, but it came with a very high cost.
Whether black or white, male or female, young or old, rich or poor; we all must be reminiscent of the long hard blood stain road that we as a people have traveled to get here...
So as we watch history being made tonight right in front of our eyes with our family and friends, let us take note.
Viola Liuzzo made history in 1965 that has taken this long to be realized. The struggle is not a black thing, it's a civil rights thing...
It's a human rights thing...
We must not forget!
We can not!
We will not forget!
"Viola Liuzzo Who?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Liuzzo
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Thank you for your tribute to Viola Liuzzo. I am her daughter and last night my sisters and I were overwhelmed with joy that we lived to see that her life and the lives of all the martyred foot soldiers of the Civil Rights struggle did not live and die in vain. We were on the phone with our dear friends back in Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham and Atlanta. We lived to have the freedom to vote for the candidate of our choice because for the first time the color of his skin did not stop him. I saw a commentator on MSNBC. He voted for McCain and said he was offended by the sentiment that we were a better America because of Obama's win. He really doesn't get it. For the first time in our country's history, the United States made good on it's promise to it's citizens. The promises of our Constitution. We are filled with pride and joy that Barack's Victory was made possible in 1965, when my Mom, Dr. King and 25,000 true Americans lived and died to secure our right to vote. I put together a little slide show - there is one graphic photo but I was making a strong statement. Here's the link http://picasaweb.google.com/sal97527/MomSLegacy#slideshow
Thanks again, Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe
lilleboes@hughes.net
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