How giving black women time for self-care benefits the whole community

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Reflections on Hidden Figures

I have been so excited to see the new movie, Hidden Figures. The story of these "computers" who overcame legal segregation and discriminatory attitudes toward women in the workplace to become firsts in their fields at NASA is so inspirational. The fact that all three of the lead characters were and are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was icing and I was giddy anticipating this film coming out one week before our 109th Founders' Day.

 Additionally, the movie shows the American apartheid system under which these women not only survived, but thrived. In today's climate, when white supremacists once again are quite comfortable spewing their hate, it was especially chilling to see. Certainly, we can see how far we've come, but we know there's still much work to be done.

  

I was born toward the "end" of the Civil Rights movement. By the time I was old enough to begin to understand things, legal segregation was not enforced. Instead, racial separation had become more subtle. I went to integrated schools and never experienced "whites only" accommodations. Like every other minority, I experienced prejudice and discrimination, but I never lived what we saw in the film.

Instead, I heard about these things from my parents and my godmother, who was accepted at Stephens College around 1919 or so, only to be turned away when she arrived and they saw that she was black. My parents went to segregated schools, and my mother has told stories of walking past the white kids' school, which was closer to her house, to get the black kids' school.

For the past few years, we have heard people saying "get over it, that's in the past," and "move on," when it comes to matter of race. In reality we are living in the next generation of the Civil Rights Movement. Or maybe we are getting ready to repeat the period after Reconstruction.

But what I was thinking as I watched 'Katherine Johnson' jog more than half a mile just to find a bathroom that she was allowed to use at her workplace, was  "we cannot ever let our story go." We must prepare the next generation to carry on the fight for equality and to do that, they have to know what they are facing.

Cassis

What was my very favorite stop? The French fishing village of  Cassis. What a charming place. I felt like I had stepped into an Agatha Christie novel and this was the type of place where Hercule Poirot would go. There were shops, and restaurants with patio seating and a beautiful harbor. There's even a castle! My only regrets are that I couldn't stay longer. I want to go back. This story is told in pictures. 

 

A Day in Barcelona

Barcelona was the next stop after Gibraltar. Any tour has to include the famous, or infamous, Gaudi Cathedral, begun in 1882 is scheduled to finally be completed in 2026. That's 144 years. Photos don't begin to convey the scale and scope, nor the detail involved.

 Browsing in a souvenir shop near the cathedral, it took a moment before I realized that a) I could understand the words of the song playing in the store because it was in English and b) it was full of curse words that would never be played in a public place in the U.S.


I  love  strolling shopping districts. You get such a feel for the people and the place. Here's some other sights I took in.

I don't run across many condom stores. 

I was mesmerized by the fact she's wearing heels and hose on a scooter. 

Ornate detailing on a bank door

  

F

Visiting The Rock of Gibraltar

We spent a day at sea between Lisbon and Gibraltar. One of the things I learned that day is that Europeans have no body shame. Some of them should. I have seen things at the pool on this ship that make me wish for eye bleach. Speedos should be illegal.

A man decided to change his shorts under his towel on the deck. I saw his entire flat ass. Sir!

So on Day 10, we docked in Gibraltar. It's essentially a large rock - a promontory - in the strait between the Atlantic and Mediterranean that is British controlled territory off the Southwestern tip of Europe. While it's the property of the United Kingdom, it's borders

Spain.

I was disappointed that we had not gotten our passports stamped at the various ports, but we got one here.  The chaplain at the port said they don't really bother with stamps in Europe anymore.

The island is known for it's population of Macques. There is a cable car that takes visitors to the nature preserve where they are, so we didn't see them. However, we wandered the Main Street that seemed to go on forever. We saw a military "parade," and just enjoyed the day. 

Our new friend Malcolm is the taxi driver who brought us back to the port. A real charmer, he cracked us up with his stories about visiting Chicago.

Arrival 

Map of The Rock

A Commemoration on Main Street

The British influence 

Farewell, Gibraltar

Paris!

Fall on The Seine 

So I must be one of the most inconsistent bloggers around. I never finished posting from my Big50Trip last year.  I really  need to finish that.

But a couple of weeks ago, I made my first trip to Paris, so I'm going to post those pictures now, and circle back to the rest of last year's vacation.

I was in London for work and took a day trip to Paris. Just 2 1/2 hours by train, the day started with an early morning cab ride to St. Pancras Station. St. Pancras is somehow connected or next to Kings Cross Station and I was reminded of Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4.  Traveling with Golden Tours, the trip included the round trip train ride and a one-hour boat cruise on  the Seine.

Viewing Le Tour Eiffel

Le Tour Eiffel 

We departed London and arrived at Paris' Gare du Nord mid-morning. After a quick survey of the neighborhood, I purchased an all-day pass for the Metro, got directions to the boat and made my way  into the city. Exiting the station at Trocadero at the Musee de l'Homme, 

I was awed to find myself right at the Eiffel Tower, as I thought it was at a different stop.










After lots of picture taking, I headed to the river cruise, which allowed me to take in many famous Paris landmarks, including The Louvre, Notre Dame and the famous bridges of Paris.

Passing The Louvre

One of the famous bridges of Paris 

Arch de Triomphe 

After the cruise, I made my way to the Arc de Triomphe.  My inner history nerd thrilled to imagine the Allies marching through it following the liberation of Paris. I remember learning about this and the famous Champs-Elysees in French class. It was thrilling to stand on that famous street. I had lunch there, too.

As evening approached, I decided to head back to the train station and just people watch until it was time to leave. It was a quick trip, but what a fantastic day.

Notre Dame during the boat ride on the Seine

You Must Vote to Go Forward

In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled in Plessey v Ferguson that separate but equal was legal, issuing in nearly 60 years of legal segregation and unequal treatment. That law stood until 1954, SCOTUS struck down that decision with Brown v the Board of Education.

As a result of that late 19^th century decision, my mother, who grew up in the segregated south, walked past a school for white children to get to the one for blacks. The books at my mother’s school were hand me downs from the white school when they got new material. Black folks who wanted to go to the movies had to pay at the window and then go around the side to the stairs and sit in the balcony. They couldn’t eat in a restaurant but had to go to a window and get it to go. And of course, we all know about sitting in the back of the bus.

Certainly, black businesses existed and in those spaces, black people could expect to be treated with the human dignity they didn’t get in other places. But not every service was available and sometimes they had to do business where they weren’t wanted.

Following the 1954 decision, and the ensuing Civil Rights movement, black folks began organizing, marching and boycotting, simply to ensure that they received the rights they were guaranteed.  A big part of that fight was the right to vote. 

Legal segregation may have been repealed, but in reality, some spaces are still not safe for skin that is not white, even in 2016.

Many “good” liberal people saw the election of Barak Obama as the end of racism. We were supposed to be post racial era with his inauguration, but in 2016, we’re still fighting. And people are shocked. Some are angry with us for pointing out the inequities.  They want us to move on.  They tell us that none of us were alive during slavery, so what does it have to do with what is happening now.  That’s not even a little bit true.  There are people actively trying to take us back to a time when we had less, because too many saw us as less. We can’t allow those people to win.

So we continue to fight.  Voting remains a part of that fight.  The election is about so much more than Clinton versus Trump.  Sure, the next president will appoint the next SCOTUS vacancies and federal judges. But this election is also about electing people to Congress who won’t be obstructionists, like our current incumbents. More importantly, it’s about electing women and men to Congress who care about people more than ideology and who believe in preserving the rights of all citizens. This election is about electing governors and state legislators who will do the same.  There are propositions and amendments to state constitutions on the ballot. At the local level, we must care about mayors, and city councils and school boards. Those people have power over your life. 

Finally, read the platforms of each party. Look at their positions on issues that matter to you, such as social justice, climate change and other environmental protections, business regulations, education, women’s health care issues or social security. Politicians often align on votes along party lines.

At the reception for the opening of the Smithsonian’s new African American museum last weekend, President Obama reminded us that history doesn’t always run straight and we can go back as well as forward. You must vote to go forward.