Brunswick Beacon, 06.02.22
“Make America Great Again?” If America was great but fell from greatness and must return to an earlier, golden age, I have to ask: When, exactly, was that? Was it before 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision? Was America greater when women made pregnant by rape or incest were forced to give birth?
Was it before 1965 when Griswold v. Connecticut established our constitutional right to privacy? Was America greater when it was illegal for married couples to purchase birth control?
Was it before the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Was America greater when people of color couldn’t vote?
Was it before 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of the bus? Before Brown v. Board of Education integrated America’s schools?
Was it before 1948, when the military was integrated? Or baseball, in 1947? Was segregated America greater?
Was it before 1925, when a Tennessee high school teacher was convicted for teaching evolution? Was America greater when it censored science?
Was it before 1920 when the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote? Was America greater when half of us were second-class citizens?
Ending the constitutional right to privacy by overturning Roe has been a 5-decade crusade. If Republicans succeed, whose rights are next?
Banning abortion and contraception nationwide? Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Mike Braun say “sure.”
Voter discrimination? Accessible ballot boxes have been taken away in minority communities and whole precincts are being closed on voting day making it harder for minorities to vote.
Segregation? “School choice” and charter schools have that covered.
Censorship? Texas and Florida are battling to see who can ban the most books. Some are recognized classics, by Edgar Allen Poe and Harper Lee. Ban “To Kill a Mockingbird”? Really?
Republicans believe America fell from greatness when “other” people got equal rights. They think America will only be great again when America is only theirs. Again.
Ron Veronese
Holden Beach
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