Election Day. Cloudy in pm, 32, 1 inch of snow but some melted. I ironed nearly all day and cleaned downstairs. Wayne gone to Central Bridge. Clifton home early. David voted for 1st time. Clifton and I ate supper at Mrs. Flugrems and he, the girls and I went to church at nite.
Comment: This was the first election under the 1965 Voting Rights Act: From Wikipedia:
"The murder of voting-rights activists in Philadelphia, Mississippi, gained national attention, along with numerous other acts of violence and terrorism. Finally, the unprovoked attack on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, by state troopers on peaceful marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, en route to the state capitol in Montgomery, persuaded the President and Congress to overcome Southern legislators' resistance The days and months leading up to Bloody Sunday were very chaotic and stressful as blacks were being targeted by whites as they went to register to vote. Most blacks were laughed at or harassed, but some were even beaten or killed. The black registered voters were also hit hard economically, in addition to physical abuse. Some were refused federal food aid, some refused credit at local banks and stores, and some were fired from their jobs."
Woody Guthrie said, "Some rob you with a six-gun, some with a fountain pen"...with the recent Supreme Court decision, at least we evolved into voter disenfranchisement without overt violence and terrorism but the intended result is the same.....As I look back at the significant events that happened during my young adult life, I'm kinda amazed how mostly unaware I was of what was going on and the significance of it....recently married and just starting jobs out of college seemed to draw all our attention...."callow youth", I guess..
No comments:
Post a Comment