When All We Have Left is Ourselves
Guest post by Kristine Schwartzman

The irony of celebrating Martin Luther King's life and legacy, and the inauguration of a president who exemplifies division and hate on the same day is not lost on many Americans.

Like many of you, I hoped that Americans would choose a woman of color as Commander in Chief. An exemplary leader, Kamala Harris promised to be a president for everyone. But, that is not what happened.  

We cannot stop what is coming. This will be a time of great hardship for so many. The question now is where do we go from here when it all seems so futile?

Martin Luther King, Jr. faced enormous obstacles, hurdles and setbacks. We only need to look to him for inspiration. After all, it's his day. And, he knew a little something about courage. 

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

"If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl; but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

"Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles."
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Vote 411: Check your registration, find your polling place, learn about the candidates and issues, and discover personalized voter information at Vote 411, brought to you by the League of Women Voters

Guest Post by Kristine Schwartzman

Voter suppression is nothing new. Even after Black men attained the right to vote in 1869, laws, threats, long distances to polling places, and unattainable qualifications kept many from exercising that right.

Grandfather's Gift posted about this very issue in a September 2, 2020, feature about Otis Moss, Sr., who in the Jim Crow south in 1946, was turned away from polling place after polling place, until time was up. The polls closed. Otis Moss, Sr. never got the chance to cast his vote. Voter suppression never stopped.  Instead, it became much more sophisticated over the years.

An election looms. Voter suppression laws and tactics threaten the fairness of each and every race. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, studies about the effect of laws and suppression tactics, such as strict voter ID requirements, voting restrictions on Sundays, longer wait lines at polling places for people of color, the closures of many polling places in neighborhoods where people of color reside, and higher rejection rates for mail-in ballot votes cast by Black and Latina voters than those cast by white people, show that time after time, eligible voters are denied the opportunity to make their voices heard. 

Voter suppression laws undermine our democracy. It's up to each one of us to fight against voter suppression and keep our elections fair.  What can we do?

Volunteer:
Protect the Vote: If you agree that every eligible voter deserves to have their voice count, you can take action from home or in person by serving as a nonpartisan Election Protection volunteer.

Donate to any of the following organizations that use legal means to fight voter suppression:
The ACLU
League of Women Voters
The Legal Defense Fund

Vote for Candidates Who Believe That Every Eligible Voter Deserves a Voice:
Check Your Registration
Check Your State's Voting Requirements
Mail-in Ballot Requirements by State
Find Your Polling Place
Personalized Ballot Info About Candidates and Issues

When Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president, it was a gigantic leap forward. Already holding office as the first female vice president this country of opportunity has ever had, as well as the first woman of color, Kamala Harris took another historic leap at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

On Thursday, August 22, 2024 Kamala Harris became the first Black woman, and first person of South Asian descent to be nominated for the highest office in the land. Balloons fell from the convention center ceiling after her acceptance speech. Invisible shards of glass fell as well. 

"We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world. And on behalf of our children and grandchildren, and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment. It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done.

​Guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love. To fight for the ideals we cherish. And to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth. The privilege and pride of being an American."
-- Kamala Harris acceptance speech

Click here to read the full transcript of Kamala Harris's acceptance speech. 

Guest Post by Kristine Schwartzman

On July 24, 2024, as President Joe Biden officially announced that he would not accept the Democratic presidential nomination for the upcoming election, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee, we witnessed something monumental. For the first time in history, a woman of color will most likely be the presidential nominee of a major political party. 

Vice President Harris is not the first Black woman to seek the nomination of a major party. Shirley Chisolm, whose motto was "Unbought and Unbossed," ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. A courageous trailblazer, "Fighting Shirley" faced discrimination from not only the opposition, but also from the mostly male members of the Congressional Black Caucus. 

These moments don't happen often. As an important election looms before us, one where our choice is moving back to a time when people of color and women had few choices, or forward to a place where every little person of color, every little girl, every child born today realizes they can become president, we not only need to remember how far we've come, but also to remember those before us who worked so hard for change. We have power in our own hands with our votes. It is up to us now.

Not registered to vote? Click here to register, How to Register to Vote

The Big Lie
Guest post by Kristine Schwartzman

After the Civil War, part of the Reconstruction plan included giving formerly enslaved Black Americans land, land owned by the very people who enslaved them. Intended to give freed Black people a start on building their lives, the plan died right along with Abraham Lincoln. 

In this groundbreaking historical investigation, Reveal tracks the lives of 1,250 freed people who were given land, only to have white supremacist Andrew Johnson, who became president after Lincoln’s death, pave the way for former enslavers and landowners, to get the land back. And, how they succeeded!

So, why bring this up now? Because the consequences still resound today. Reparations given, and then taken away - turned once hopeful lives into further toil and poverty that passed down through generations. Those families still pay the price of being kidnapped from their homes, and turned into property. This is not the “past.” It is now.

ABOUT THE WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT
Introduction by Sally Roesch Wagner
Edited by Sally Roesch Wagner
Foreword by Gloria Steinem

An intersectional anthology of works by the known and unknown women that shaped and established the suffrage movement...

Comprised of historical texts spanning two centuries, The Women’s Suffrage Movement is a comprehensive and singular volume with a distinctive focus on incorporating race, class, and gender, and illuminating minority voices.

This one-of-a-kind intersectional anthology features the writings of the most well-known suffragists, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, alongside accounts of those often overlooked because of their race, from Native American women to African American suffragists like Ida B. Wells and the three Forten sisters.

At a time of enormous political and social upheaval, there could be no more important book than one that recognizes a group of exemplary women–in their own words–as they paved the way for future generations.

The editor and introducer, Sally Roesch Wagner, is a pre-eminent scholar of the diverse backbone of the women’s suffrage movement, the founding director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, and serves on the New York State Women’s Suffrage Commission.

-- Penguin Random House

The Book of Gutsy Women" is an eye-opening and exceedingly powerful celebration of inspirational and gutsy women throughout history to present day. 

Written by mother/daughter team Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, the book covers many names you'll recognize, and some you won't. Included are women of color, who often get a short shrift in suffragist and feminist narratives. 

"The narrative range is vast and features distinctly inspiring women such as Shirley Chisholm, “the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination”; Ellen DeGeneres, who leveled homophobic speculation by coming out publicly in 1997; Rosa May Billinghurst, a leading British suffragist in early-20th-century England; and Fraidy Reiss, the founder of Unchained at Last, an organization that fights against child marriage.

Overall, the collection—which also features Harriet Tubman, Rachel Carson, Clara Barton, Jane Goodall, Maya Angelou, Temple Grandin, and Malala Yousafzai, among many other major figures—will bond optimistic readers together in remembrance of the major contributions of a sisterhood that is smartly and accessibly presented by the Clintons." - Kirkus Reviews
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Politics aside, the book provides a wealth of information about women well-known and not-so well-known to inspire women and girls of all ages and backgrounds. 

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and world-renowned cellist Jan Vogler collaborate on a unique performance of Gorman’s poem, “What We Carry,” set to Vogler’s performance of "Suite for Violoncello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude." Amanda Gorman’s latest book, “Call Us What We Carry,” is available now. Jan Vogler’s album, “Bach: The Cello Suites” is available for streaming here:  https://sonyclassical.lnk.to/VoglerBachCelloSuites.

View the performance from Stephen Colbert's Late Show, here:

Experiencing A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. With Children
Guest post by D.A. Smith

Reviewing a children’s book can sometimes present challenges beyond the scope of reflecting on the images and sometimes rhyming words used to entertain and teach our youngest members of society. There are well known childhood favorites, whimsical fantasies, fairy tales, sweet bedtime stories and endearing characters to choose from, and then there are books that conjure more silence than laughter.
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For me and my children, few words were needed to express the thoughts and emotions that came from reading David A. Adler’s A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr., illustrated by Robert Casilla. 

​It’s not that the book isn’t beautiful, it is. The writing was not too complicated, it was clear, and the story was easy to understand even for… a child. And maybe that in itself is the reason so few words came. We got it. A boy, a faithful boy, grew into a man who changed the course of history through bold acts of strength and love, and he died at the hands of someone who was guided by fear, anger and dare I say, hate. 

When my youngest looked up at me after the story and said, “Wait. So, the boys' parents didn’t want them to play with Martin because of his skin color?” I could only answer, “Yes. That’s what I understand.” to which my eldest said “I am so glad we don’t live like that anymore.” To her I said “Well, it’s because of men like Martin Luther King, Jr. that we don’t” She then got up and went to her room, presumably to think while she worked on a friendship bracelet. 

What I kept to myself the morning we read Adler’s book is a truth as simple and as old as recorded history can confirm. Human hearts are messy. Thinking of other people as different as we are, whether because of skin color, religious affiliations, political allegiances, languages or even economic standing is a fool's game. What we hold in common is far more profound, and that is something Martin Luther King Jr. understood. Love is the answer.