We will take our country back is one of the slogans that Republicans and Tea Party candidates have used to controlled the midterm election debate. Like many other African-Americans the thought of going back is unacceptable to me.
The tone and words of the Republicans and/or Tea Party candidates sound like Governor George Wallace in his 1963 Inaugural Address: “Today I have stood, where once Jefferson Davis stood, and took an oath to my people. It is very appropriate then that from this Cradle of the Confederacy, this very Heart of the Great Anglo-Saxon Southland, that today we sound the drum for freedom as have our generations of forebears before us done, time and time again through history. Let us rise to the call of freedom-loving blood that is in us and send our answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South. In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny . . . and I say . . . segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever.
On Friday October 29 – October 31, 2010, I attended the 35th anniversary of the Alpha Kappa Alpha establishing a chapter at the University of Florida. Founded in 1853 the University of Florida is the oldest university in Florida. African-Americans were allowed to attend until September 1958. I was accepted to attend Fall of 1972 freshman class at the University of FL.
My recent visit to the University of Florida was one of the best weekends of my life. I enjoyed reconnecting with the women that pledged with me 35 years ago. More importantly I enjoyed and rejoice in the beautiful young women who are currently attending U of F. These women will join other Alpha Kappa Alpha women who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, superintendents of school districts, business owners, and writers as they continue to become more productive American citizens.
The same people who want to take their country back want to abolish the Department of Education. They want to return education to individual states. The possibility that minority children will not have the opportunity to obtain a quality education and minority adults will not have the opportunity to have rewarding productive careers and lives is the reason that the Republican Party Can’t take this country back.
Vera Richardson
Preview and/or buy book "Screwed by Former Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer" to START a factual race conversation that can change Americ
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