At Canaan's Edge

On Martin Luther King Day, I purchased At Canaan's Edge. I have always been fascinated with the civil rights movement - as well as the state of our Union in general during the 1960s. This book has opened my eyes to just how much civil disrest there was in the US during the 1960s. The book focuses mainly on the Civil Rights Movement - but also flashes to the Vietnam War and President Johnson's conflicts. Perhaps it was my naiveness, but I was unaware of the sheer violence these individuals faced in the South. There were several men, women, and children that died for the right to be equal. It all seems so foreign to me. It angers me that our nation could have been so blind...so stupid to look at a person and see the color of their skin and not the quality of their character. Being white, I've never expereinced racism. Being a woman, I have been subjected to sexist views. I was never greated with violence, but rather a "now, now - women belong in the kitchen" tone. It still infuriated me. I cannot imagine the injustice black citizens suffered in the South in the 1960s; and unfortunately still experience. Hurricane Katrina occurred in 2005, not 1965; but racism was present throughout the aid process. Even the rebuilding is racist - the 9th Ward, a predominantly African-American, poor neighborhood was sold to a white developer with $$$ on his mind.

The subject of racism finds itself on my blog for the second time this month, because yesterday Coretta Scott King passed away. Each year, we lose a few more members of the Civil Rights Movement - some famous, some nameless. I think as Americans, we have a duty to carry on their legacy.