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Edited on Thu Jul-10-08 10:59 AM by SidneyCarton
(Let's see if a slightly more controversial title gets attention???)
Abigail Adams wanted women to have the right to vote in 1783, they had to struggle until 1920 to achieve this.
Abolitionists argued against slavery since the foundation of this country, the 13th Amendment wasn't passed until 1865.
In spite of the abolition of slavery, formalized legal segregation and discrimination wasn't effectively overruled until the 1960's.
Nelson Mandela spent over two decades in prison and the ANC spent over four decades fighting Apartheid.
Despite massive protests and antiwar sentiment, the Vietnam War continued until 1973, lasting over a decade.
Abigail Adams, Susan B. Anthony, John Brown, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Sophie Scholl, Stephan Biko, and unnumbered others died never having seen the fruits of their labors, but they labored nonetheless.
Our nation currently lies in the grasp of nearly 30 years of misrule, beginning with the ruinous government of Ronald Reagan, and culminating with the near cataclysmic regime of George W. Bush. We have known ruin, trouble, injustice and frustration. We have seen much of that which was good and noble in our nation smeared, wrecked and defiled. And we have been angered. We have seen our freedoms eroded, and we have been enraged. We have appealed over and over to our elected officials, and been disappointed again and again, most recently in the current FISA bill. Some have stated that democracy is dead, and threaten to give up. To those who have currently lost hope, I direct to the names mentioned above, so many of which never saw the fruits of their labors and died frustrated, alone and often ruined in body and spirit, men and women of which their times and nation were unworthy, but they lit fires that grew and enlightened the world. We must go on, our fight will yet be long, we will yet suffer many disappointments and sorrows, but our goal is to make a better world, not necessarily for us, but for our children and grandchildren. If we do not make it to the promised land, we may yet make it possible for them to do so.
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