|
|
|
Last Updated: Jun 10th, 2010 - 13:25:48 |
Dorothy Height (1912–2010): Civil Rights Leader
 |
| President Obama eulogizes Dorothy Height at her funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. |
Remembered for Lifelong Activism
First Lady Michelle Obama, along with thousands of mourners packed into the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. April 29 to attend the funeral of civil rights and women’s rights leader Dorothy Height. She died last week to the age of 98. Dorothy Height served as President of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years where she fought for equal rights for both African-Americans and women. During the 1960s, she organized Wednesdays in Mississippi, which brought together Black and White women from the North and South to create a dialog of understanding. She worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many other prominent civil rights activists. In 1971, she helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus. And in the last months of her life she took part in health care discussions at the White House. At the funeral service on Thursday, Camille Crosby and poet Maya Angelou were among those who paid tribute to Dorothy Height. President Obama weeped during the service before taking to the podium to deliver a thirteen-minute eulogy. He hailed her achievements and ended by recounting one of his favorite stories about Dorothy Height.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: One of my favorite moments with Dr. Height, this is just a few months ago, we had decided to put up the Emancipation Proclamation in the Oval Office. We invited some elders to share reflections of the movement, and she came and it was an inter-generational event. So we had young children there as well as elders and the elders were asked to share stories. She talked about attending a dinner in the 1940s at the home of Dr. Benjamin Mays, then president of Morehouse College. And seated at the table that evening was a fifteen-year-old student, a gifted child as she described him, filled with a sense of purpose, who was trying to decide whether to enter medicine, or law, or the ministry. Many years later, after that gifted child had become a gifted preacher, I am sure he had been told to be on his best behavior, after he led a bus boycott in Montgomery and inspired a nation with his dreams, he delivered a sermon on what he called the Drum Major Instinct. A sermon that said we all have the desire to be first, we all want to be at the front of the line. A great test of a life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, is to harness that instinct, to redirect it towards advancing the greater good, towards changing a community and a country for the better, toward doing the Lord’s work. I sometimes think Dr. King must of had Dorothy Height in mind when he gave that speech. For Dorothy Height met the test. Dorothy Height embodied that instinct. Dorothy Height was a drum major for justice, a drum major for equality, a drum major for freedom, a drum major for service. The lesson she would want us to leave with today, the lesson she lived out each and every day is that we can all be first in service. We can all be drum majors for a righteous cause. So let us live out that lesson, let us honor her life by changing this country for the better as long as we’re blessed to live. May God bless Dr. Dorothy Height and the union that she made more perfect.
BP Oil Spill Hits Louisiana Coastline
The massive BP oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico has reached the Louisiana coastline as fears grow of a worse disaster than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Five thousand barrels of oil a day continue to spew into the water beneath the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank last week. At the White House, President Obama said BP is ultimately responsible for funding the response and cleanup operations, but vowed to increase federal involvement.
President Obama: “I’ve been receiving frequent briefings from members of my cabinet and White House staff including an update last night on the additional breach and another update this morning. And while BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and cleanup operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal including potentially the Department of Defense to address the incident.”
Thousands Gather for March on Wall St.
Thousands of people turned out for a protest on Wall Street Thursday to denounce the taxpayer-funded bailout and the role of large financial firms in the nation’s economic crisis. A coalition of union and community groups organized the march as the Senate opened debate on a measure to overhaul financial regulation.
National People’s Action President George Goehl: “We want to send a clear message to them (Congress), ‘which side are you on?’ Are you going to side with Wall Street and the bankers, the same bankers got us in this mess? Or are you going to do what we think would be the obvious thing, to side with the American people?”
Before the march, dozens of protesters crowded the lobbies of buildings housing JP Morgan Chase as well as Wells Fargo and Wachovia.
Goldman Sachs Faces Criminal Probe
Federal prosecutors have reportedly opened a criminal investigation into the Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs. The firm is under scrutiny for marketing mortgage securities to clients while simultaneously betting the securities would fail. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is said to be carrying out the probe. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Goldman this month and is said to have referred its case to federal prosecutors.
Protests, Lawsuits Challenge Arizona Immigration Law
Opposition to Arizona’s new immigration law is growing with ongoing protests and the first federal lawsuits seeking its reversal. The law forces police officers to determine the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant. Opponents call it the harshest anti-immigrant measure in the country and a license for racial profiling. On Thursday, hundreds of people rallied against the law at a protest outside the state Capitol in Phoenix. The demonstrators included the veteran labor activist Dolores Huerta and the pop musician Shakira. Huerta said the law is galvanizing the immigrant rights movement.
Dolores Huerta:“I think this is an opportunity for all of us here to get in engaged and change the policy of the state of Arizona. We can not let the state continue to be the black sheep of all the states of the United States of America, which continues to pass laws that are racist.”
Another protest was held in Chicago, where dozens of people rallied outside a Major League Baseball game featuring the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks. A small plane displaying a banner criticizing the immigration law circled above the stadium. Back in Arizona, fifteen-year Tuscon police veteran Martin Escobar filed suit against the law, saying it would impede investigations and violate constitutional rights. Escobar’s suit was followed by a separate challenge from the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. The group is seeking an injunction preventing the law’s enforcement. Thomas Saenz of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said his group will also file suit.
Thomas Saenz: “A lawsuit will be filed in federal court in a time to ensure that the law will never be able to be implemented, based on what the implementation date ends up being, 90 days from when the legislature session closes. We will go to court, file a complaint seeking to enjoin the law from ever being implemented.”
The sheriff for Arizona’s Pima County meanwhile has announced he’ll refuse to enforce the new law. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik called the law “disgusting”, “racist”, and “stupid.”
House Approves Puerto Rico Referendum
Back in the United States, the House has approved a measure that would allow a referendum on Puerto Rico’s political future. The proposal would allow for a two-step vote in which Puerto Ricans would first vote on whether they wish to maintain the island’s current status as a U.S. commonwealth or change direction. If the latter choice prevails, Puerto Rico could then hold a second vote presenting four options: statehood, independence, the current status or sovereignty linked to the United States. The measure now goes to the Senate.
Click here to post a comment.
Click here to view all our blogs and discussion groups, where you can comment on any news stories or post your own news.
Read and search hundreds of news stories on SeeingBlack.com's 411 Channel.
Do you shop at Amazon? Please shop through our link and support
SeeingBlack.com!
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
