Posted by Lou Pilder on May 22, 2002, at 20:12:38
In reply to FRUSTRATED FRUSTRATED FRUSTRATED » Ron Hill, posted by kid_A on May 22, 2002, at 19:37:54
Friends,
When I was 7 years old, I was in downtown Cincinati with my father. We were standng in front of Woolworth's dept. store. There were people beng beaten by police and jeered by white people because they wanted to eat at the lunch counter there. I asked my father to explain this injustice to me. He said, "Lou, the owners of the store do not want black people to eat at the lunch counter because the white people do not want them to allow black people at the counter. The owners say tht they own the store and therfore they can kick out the black people because the white people do not want them there."
Even as a small child, I felt the lash of descrimination along with those corageous black people that wanted equality. I remember the manager comming out and yelling, "this store is for whites, you (expletive) go to another resturant that serves blacks." "We have rights", yelled out the black people.
Just as they chanted that, the police rained in blows with clubs and arrested them. The polce were all white people.
It took years of litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that owners of any establishment could not bar anyone for wanting equal rights. Segregation was over in 1954.
There are still some exemptions to the law. Some Country clubs will not allow Tiger Woods to play there because of his skin color. I do not know of any other exemptions.
Now I will never forget those absolutly blessed people that stood up to Woolworth's dept. store on tht steamy hot day in Cincinnati when I was a child. They were an inspiration to me, and they showed me that all men are created equal, and they showed me that we could all overcome and they showed me that there is a God in Heaven that will lift up the people that are cast down and give them the Crown of Life.
Lou
poster:Lou Pilder
thread:24134
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020517/msgs/24361.html