John Lewis
The other day, I was
reintroduced to a woman I barely knew when we were children in all-white
affluent Mountain Brook "over the mountain" from Birmingham. She was
younger, I knew her parents and older siblings somewhat. I was embarrassed to
learn she is the sculptor who created the statutes in the Birmingham Civil
Rights National Monument near the 16th Street Baptist Church that was bombed by
Atlanta, Georgia Klansmen. Embarrassed, because of how ignorant I was.
Embarrassed, because back when Elizabeth MacQueen was awake and aware and
putting her body and social standing on the line, I was
sound asleep.
My email to Elizabeth this morning:
My last dream last night, a duplicate bridge amigo said a hit man was
after me. I woke up and saw online an article about the death of former SNCC
head and U.S. Congressman John Lewis. He's from Troy (where my Bashinsky family
is from). I didn't know that or anything about him. What an ignorant hick,
I think the article will be my blog post today. Trump didn't like Lewis. Lewis
said he thought Trump is a racist. Duh. He didn't denounce David Duke's
endorsement in 2016. He preferred Norway immigrants to African shit-hole
countries. Good people waving Confederate Flags in Charlottesville. I bet you
could twist Trump's tail pretty good if you set your mind to it.
'Thanks, but no thanks' - Norwegians reject Trump's immigration offer
Charlottesville:
Below is a link to POLITICO's John Lewis article. Lewis' U.S. Congress District was in Atlanta, Georgia. The POLITICO article has lots of photos and I can't bring it to this blog without screwing it up. As I read the article, I was increasingly ashamed of my white guy ignorance. President Trump makes me ashamed to be an American, like George Wallace once made me ashamed to be from Alabama. But more than anything, I'm ashamed I did not put my body and social standing on the line in the Civil Rights Movement.
sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com
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