In Support of Pride Month

Photo Credit

Pexels by Nicholas Swatz

When I taught elementary school, I never shared my political views with my students.  It was not my place to shape the opinions of my students.  On Election Day, I recall older kids in 5^th and 6^th grades asking me who I voted for, but I never told them. 

There were times, particularly when we were studying history, it was nearly unavoidable that some student in the class would make a somewhat political statement.  How can the subject of race and politics not come up when studying the Civil War or the civil rights movement?  Each day, my class would recite the Pledge of Allegiance and say the words “and liberty and justice for all.”  It was tough for me to rationalize how a country that professed equal treatment of all was, in reality, a nation where things were far from equal for its citizens.

While I believe in the “liberty and justice for all” standard, too many times we have fallen woefully short.  How can we claim equality when the only citizens who could vote for years were wealthy white male landowners?  George Washington became our first President in 1789.  In 1869, eighty years later, the 15^th amendment to the Constitution passed and granted all men (over 21) the right to vote, regardless of race and color.

In 1878, Congress introduced an act that would have allowed women to vote, but it did not pass.  It wasn’t until 1920, a regrettable 131 years after Washington was elected, that Congress passed the 19^th amendment, finally allowing women the right to vote.  It is particularly tragic that a country that is supposed to be about equality still hasn’t elected a female President 232 years after Washington was elected.

Women are not the only people discriminated against in our history.  Can we not comprehend how poor people, particularly people of color, have not held the same rights?  It wasn’t until 1964, a mere 57 years ago, that Congress passed the 24^th amendment outlawing poll taxes.  These taxes had been levied for years discouraging poor people from voting.

In 1971, Congress passed the 26^th amendment lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.  Until this amendment, that meant 18-year-old men were old enough to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War yet did not have the right to vote.  Voter suppression still exists today.  The struggle for equal rights is not over.

Racism continues to rear its ugly head.  When we don’t call it out, we are complicit in allowing it to happen.  One doesn’t have to be a scholar to see that African Americans, Asian Americans, Muslim Americans, and many other groups have all experienced instances of hate and differential treatment.  I am a big supporter of the police, and I believe that there are far more outstanding police officers than not. On the other hand, there are more instances of police brutality against minorities.  If we ignore that fact, then we are burying our heads in the sand.

In the over two years that I’ve maintained a blog, I have avoided political issues.  I am friends with people of many political persuasions.  That’s not the reason I’m friends with anyone.  I choose my friends based on what kind of people they are.  What are we teaching our children when we can’t accept that someone is entitled to their own opinion?

Now that I’m retired and no longer employed by a school district, I feel more empowered to speak my conscience.  I refuse to stand idly by as we allow more discrimination.  We need to use our voices and not treat others differently because they happen to have a different skin tone, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual preference, etc. 

June is Pride Month, and I am happy to offer my support to the LGBTQ community.  I feel who someone chooses to love is none of the government’s or my business.  For those who feel like there is something wrong with being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or queer, I wonder if they realize how much psychological damage they are doing by being narrow-minded.  What if this was your parent, brother, sister, child, nephew, or niece?  If that makes us love someone less, then it’s probably time to take a long hard look in the mirror.

Equal rights shouldn’t be a political issue anyway, though some may try to make it one.  For me, it is as simple as what’s right and wrong.