[Ohio-talk] Here We Are 50 Years Later

Wed Aug 28 18:10:33 UTC 2013

Richard, thank you so much for sending out this dialogue.

In reading the comments today, I am so thankful for all those who fought for equality and inclusion.  My grandmother who lived until she was 99 and 11 months told me how living in Mississippi was hard and difficult for "Blacks".  She would be so honored to know that her fight was not in vein.  Now in 2013 we have rights beyond what she could have ever imagined.

Yes, the struggle for rights among us who are disabled are hard and long.  But, we too have come very far.

I can recall in 1980 in McClain Mississippi where area restaurants still had a side for African-Americans and Whites to dine.  At the same time persons with visual impairments and blindness were working in sheltered workshops earning less than half of the minimum wage.  In 1984, I was employed at this same workshop, placing spoons and forks in a box for one dollare and ninety-nine cents per hour when minimum wage was three dollars and twenty-five cents.  I thought my life was over!  I would be there for the rest of my life!  I thought that no change was coming!  Ironically, some of my peers are still working there today.  So, my "I have a dream speech" is to see my up-coming persons with disabilities, Black or White be productive and to have a piece of the apple pie.  Yes, it is justice, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that we all want in life.  Certainly, this is what we are fighting for just like my grandmother did 50 years ago!!!

I do not intend to stop fighting!  Therefore, I pledge you all to continue to talk about the NFB, continue to tell the story of how you made it over, give someone a hand, walk together and never forget where you came from.  It doesn't matter if you are Black, White Disabled or a Democrat or Republican: King's speech is still as profound as 50 years ago.  It speaks to us all.

Suzanne

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Smith, JW
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 1:29 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List (ohio-talk at nfbnet.org)
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Here We Are 50 Years Later

So here we are 50 years later and we have much to be thankful for in terms of diversity and inclusion in our society. As many of you may or may not know one of my areas of research is Black communication styles and the development of Black rhetoric in our culture. This is such a historic day for us so please allow me some meanderings. On August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had prepared a four or five minute speech as he was the last in a long line of speakers that day. Did you know, that his now famous "I Have a Dream" part of the speech was not even in his prepared notes and in fact he had delivered a similar speech in Detroit earlier that year? It was probably at the urging of the famous gospel singer Mahalia Jackson as she sat on the stage behind him that he even included the phrase. At one point, she was overheard to say "tell them about the dream, Martin" and if you look at the video it is at that time that he puts down his prepared notes and adlibs the last ten minutes of his speech, which by the way ended up being 16 minutes in length. Did you also know that immediately after his speech someone asked him for his notes and he gave them to him and he still has those notes? People have offered him between 3 and 4 million dollars for them but he refuses to sell them. Did you also know that the famous activist W.E.B. Dubois symbolically passed away on August 27th, 1963 seemingly to pass the torch onto Dr. King and others?

                Even though I was only 4 years old at the time I remember vividly what it was like and what it meant to be a Black blind person coming up in the city of Chicago. So I will get off of my soapbox soon but I want to reiterate as I said in my last message- in my opinion, I know we've come a long way as a people and a society and not just with the election of President Obama. You see I remember what it was like for us to take our trips by car from Chicago to Memphis, Tennessee and have to have community picnics on the side of the road because our formal lodging options were limited at best, as well as possibilities for filling our automobile with gasoline. I remember the whispered hush hushes of my family members in Greenville, Mississippi "you know how they are and we really need to be careful and stay away from over there and you all are from the North and you don't really know what it's like down here, so be careful." It was common knowledge in Chicago in the 1960's that if you were not a Caucasian there were several neighborhoods that you dare not visit after say 8 o'clock because there could be serious implications for that misjudgment. It is ironic to me today that one of my favorite hotels is located in one of those areas and its probably why I try to stay there as often as I can when I visit my hometown of Chicago.  I will close my meanderings with what I tell my students when we have finished discussing the impact of slavery on our society. I say to them there are three responses that are often communicated about this tragic period in our country. The first is "I didn't do it, I wasn't there so don't hold me responsible or make me feel guilty about any of that stuff that happened way back then." The second is "Your all guilty, you all owe us and we will never let you forget it." The third one and the one I like the best and is by far the one that I try to live up to is "it happened, lets learn from it and never repeat it and let's try and do what we can to move on." As you celebrate and commemorate this historic day think about what you can do to ensure that 50 years from now we have made even more progress and in more parts of our society.

Thanks for listening, I'm going to shut up now.

Jw

Dr. JW Smith
Associate Professor
Interim Director of Honors Tutorial Studies School of Communication Studies Lasher Hall, Rm. 112 Athens, OH 45701 smithj at ohio.edu<mailto:smithj at ohio.edu>
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"Regarding the past, change what you can, and can what you can't."
"Our minds are like parachutes. They work best when they are open."

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