CIVIL RIGHTEOUSNESS

The day Rosa Parks decided to take a seat at the front of the bus, was the moment the Civil Rights Movement Began, her decision not to go to the back of the bus that day created a new way of life for many including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who Led this life changing movement.

However I have a question who has really benefited from the Civil Rights Movement?  In actuality neither the individual who began it or the man that led it benefited to the degree that we all would like to believe.  It was the women of the  Feminist Movement that followed, which gained the most momentum from it and eventually utilized the laws for themselves.  Yesterday I attended an American Association of University Women (AAUW) meeting at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA  and I was the only woman of color in the room, it was glaringly apparent to me particularly because the topic of discussion was about women and their struggle that something was awfully wrong.  The speaker was a historian professor and author from Evergreen University who very eloquently spoke on women's issues, was quite gender specific and I must say I was impressed however; being the only woman of color in the room, it dropped in my spirit that in the 21st Century even now today, this very moment; women of color are still challenged by lack of Civil Rights. Due to the fact that his group would not allow women of color to become members, women of color had to create their own organization for themselves, a parallel organization for the rights of women.  Being a double minority and still struggling to identify their true identity after all this time.  I was having a discussion with my niece and she is young, progressive and extremely intelligent and plans to produce films, I believe her viewpoint and perspective is very pure.  She said Aunt you should blog this.  So here we go.

Civil:  adequate in courtesy and politeness: MANNERLY , I'm going to go with this one.  What do you think?  OR what about;

Civil: of relating, or involving the general public, their activities, needs or ways, or civic affairs as distinguished from special (as military or religions) affairs.

well now how am I doing?

Rights: Righteousness Upright
             Being in accordance to what is just, good or proper
             Suitable, appropriate
             Genuine real

WOW  right up my alley, just what I wanted to see, thank you Merriam Webster. com, online dictionary, you nailed it.  See when I decided to title this blog Righteousness seemed more appropriate than rights, reason being you can LEGISLATE rights, but not  righteousness because being righteous is a personal matter however you decide to use it.  Because what the Civil Rights movement was based on is Civility, doing the right thing.  But you can legislate civility.  You can't put it in a bottle and sell it you just can't make people want to be civil nor righteous in the sense of integrity.  Although most people love being RIGHT, but Righteousness is another category the type of righteousness I am discussing it's sort of like being PIOUS (marked by hypocrisy); like getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar, you want the cookie, but don't want to pay for it. Pretension!

This may be the only place I have as an individual to say what I truly believe and share how I feel and be completely honest about it.  This is my seat on that bus, my way of saying that things haven't really changed very much.  It was the 19th Century when Rosa and Martin collaborated with a lot of other people to protest lack of Civility, and they were very effective, but do you realize that it only worked for a select few.  Pretty much the same select few that was privileged to begin with.  But it wasn't a waste, because consciousness is a significant factor in growth and moving away from circumstances, situations, people in life that don't serve us.  It requires or better said it allows us to go within and search ourselves and what we would like to see for ourselves. So Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., brought consciousness to a sleeping society, the movement awakened a consciousness in them that had just seemed right to them.  These were and still are their reasoning's and they are entitled to them, although not at the cost of others rights.  Too big a price to pay.

So the door was opened and some folks walked right through the door, however;  it only remained slightly ajar for the rest and then it was slammed shut. Some of us wiggled our way through creating genres of our own, still being classified as something else, "Outside the Box" (which is a good thing). We now find ourselves in the 21st Century, what do you see??  How do you feel about the outcomes? How do you feel regarding who walked through that open door, carved for WHOM?   How is the consciousness of our culture, how aware, what has changed, what is significantly altered or different than it was?  How are your Civil Rights? Seen them lately?  Are they okay? Are you  feelin me?  Do you feel any more acceptable than in the 19th Century if you were around, does it or does it not matter?  For those of you who were not, what do you think?

There is a saying "The more things change,  the more they stay the same".  Seems like a very true statement at this moment in time   NOW!