It took more than 72 years for women to gain the right to vote and be equal to men. When the civil rights movement began, hate filtered through the country. Brown vs. Board of Education overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson because schools refused to integrate; even after the vote was passed, it took police to force the doors open.

Back then, people were raising the same types of questions that are being raised about not putting same-gender marriage on the ballot. Decades ago, when women demanded the right to vote, men asked, “Why should you have the same rights as us? You’re only property, and property does not have rights.” In addition, women who were complacent criticized women who spoke out. It was considered unladylike to speak about rights for women, and back then, women were chastised, tortured and/or killed. Most times, it wasn’t that violent — the husband would disown the wife and keep the children. Most times it was easier to be complacent because it meant you had a roof over your head and access to your children.

As for blacks, same deal. Back then it was, “Blacks are subhuman; they don’t deserve the same rights as white folks.” Come to think of it, Jim Crow laws were the silent way of keeping slavery alive and let black people continually be subconsciously enslaved. Blacks weren’t allowed to marry outside their race, couldn’t live in the same town as whites, and most restaurants wouldn’t serve them inside. They had to order by a take-out window. “Hey, we want your money, but we just don’t want you inside.” Yes, back then the system was backward.

Women are still fighting for rights of equality. What a victory for Cynthia Haddad, the woman who won the $2 million lawsuit against Wal-Mart for wage discrimination. Blacks are still fighting for equality. Los Angeles Times columnist Molly Ivins said in her June 20 article about Texas justice, “In 1998, James Byrd Jr. was dragged to death behind a pickup truck for being black in Jasper. Two of the three men responsible got the death penalty. This was not the first time in Texas a white man was given the death penalty for killing a black man. It was the second.”

I think that 70 years from now, there will still be racists against gays, just as there are racists against blacks and racists against women. I deal with racism on a daily basis, and unfortunately, when you see it all the time, you get accustomed to it. You shrug your shoulders and walk away, silently saying, “It doesn’t matter what you think of me because it’s your problem — you’re the one with the problem.” If people have this pent-up anger about equality for others, they need therapy, but who knows if a psychiatrist can help them? Maybe, maybe not, but one thing is for sure: people need to grow with the times. And to think, decades ago women were shunned for wearing pants. Look how far the country has come. We should all be proud, even though we have a long way to go.

Originally posted in The Standard-Times newspaper,  SouthCoastToday.com – Posted June 13, 2007 12:00 AM

To view original article, click here