Today marks the intersection of some important dates in history. Track and Field is underway at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. It's also Left-Handed Day. And sadly, today is a day that I would still recite the Pledge of Allegiance with the ending modified to say, "with liberty and justice for all (here's hoping!)" I added this alternative ending many years ago because of my mother. She was always looking out for human rights. I remember her caring about Black rights, and also those of the United Farm Workers of America, founded by Cesar Chavez.
It was in this spirit that I went off on a treasure hunt today to find a statue that resides at San Jose State University (my alma mater.) It's of Tommie Smith and John Carlos when they did a "Black Power" salute at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Missing from the statue is Australian, Peter Norman, who also wore a human rights badge on his uniform. For this act, he was practically blacklisted in his native Australia, and denied more lucrative opportunities. He never regretted his decision, and died with his friends, Smith and Carlos, serving as pallbearers. The place in the statue where he would be is left blank so that people can stand in solidarity with Smith and Carlos. And so I did!
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| Left handed salute since today is Left-Handed Day! |
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| Big shoes to fill! |
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| Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) Badge |
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| Olive branch |
I went to San Jose State University with one purpose. I found another. As Mitch and I were walking toward our destination, I came across a beautiful arch. Upon further inspection, I realized it was to honor Cesar Chavez. I remember my mom boycotting Safeway stores because of unfair labor practices. It dawned on me that both the Black rights movement and what Cesar Chavez wanted were really the same. So thought Dr. Martin Luther King. In a telegram to Cesar Chavez, Dr. King acknowledged the commonalities between the African-American struggle and the labor movement stating that, "our separate struggles are really one- a struggle for freedom, for dignity and for humanity."
How sad that today this basic need is still not met for all.
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| The Cesar E. Chavez Monument: Arch of Dignity, Equality and Justice |
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Robert Kennedy and Chavez after hunger strike in 1968
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After our visit to SJSU we went to San Pedro Square Market where, keeping with my cultural theme, I had a Mojito and Empanadas. Cheers to Diversity!
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| Old Versus New. The Peralta Adobe-Fallon House with the newest high rise, Centerra |
My hope is that in the near future I will be able to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as written.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
