In the text of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's historic "I Have a Dream" speech, the word "homosexual" does not appear once. Neither do the more colloquial terms "gay" and "lesbian." Yet words from that speech were what first leapt into my mind Saturday afternoon as I watched the Senate vote to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".
To many, Dr. King is not so much a person as an avatar for American justice and equality, and never more so than in those several minutes of videotape. So perhaps it was a Pavlovian response to the rare experience of seeing, live before my eyes, long-overdue justice finally delivered to targets of discrimination.
"No...no, we are not satisfied," Dr. King said that day, "and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."
The note pictured above was a handwritten response from President Obama to Sandy Tsao, an Army officer who'd informed her superiors that she was gay and written subsequently to the President to request his help ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." She received his response in May. Of 2009.
Justice rolls down like waters. Righteousness like a mighty stream. That sounds pretty fast. And to many, this process seemed anything but. Including, this note shows, the President himself.
Undeniably, the President's "long game" worked in this case, and he'll be within his rights to remind us of that. (Perhaps he'll do so during the 2012 re-election campaign should the failed DREAM Act prove to be his political Obi-Wan Kenobi, a more powerful force in death than in life.)
But for all the anger over the 17 years "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was allowed to stand, the now-successful struggle for repeal proves that the "long game" is not just a presidential strategy, but a sad reality in an America where such discrimination can be removed from the law and yet continue to thrive -- as if to spite the progress made.
There are not yet any rolling waters, nor any mighty streams. Are you satisfied?
(Image via ThinkProgress.)
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http://cagle.com/news/DontAskDontTell10/1.asp
Love the "These Colors...." editorial cartoon.
Hey, thanks for the cartoon. I'm going to use it on the blog.
http://pooniethegreat.blogspot.com/2010/12/behold-moral-arc-bending-towards.html
A service member's take on DADT repeal.
Hurray! And,
"No...no, we are not satisfied," Dr. King said that day, "and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."
For starters:
The Dream Act
Relief for the 911 First Responders
A fair and sustainable tax policy,
i.e., a tax policy that sustains the possibilities of an American Dream for all Americans, including: quality education, quality health care, and the means to attain food and shelter throughout the arc of one's life: in other words, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
For the sake of accuracy, the phrase "justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream" is from the book of Amos (5:24) in the Bible.
It was a long road to the Civil Rights Act of 64 with many pieces of legislation and compromises along the way before Dr. King that slowly expanded the rights of African-Americans.
DADT isn't exactly the Civil Rights Act for gays. This is just one right that doesn't even cover transgender people. Gay and trans people can still be discriminated against in employment, accommodations, and housing in the private sector in most states.
I see people already want to move on from gay rights. DADT repeal is only the first piece of legislation ever passed that expands the rights of gay people rather than limiting them.
In 1997 I was living near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where the city council was trying to stop a gay bar from opening on the main strip. Even though a gay bar had quietly existed a block from the strip for years, they argued that such a bar being visible would tarnish the city's "family friendly" image.
South Carolina Pride decided to have the Pride event in Myrtle Beach that year. Burroughs & Chapin, a major property owner in Myrtle Beach, would not allow any Pride events on the property they managed and even instructed the businesses that were their tenants to not display any rainbow flags or anything welcoming to gay visitors. That was, and still is, all legal.
Just a couple years ago my partner and I were just trying to find a gay friendly realtor there, and we had my Dad and some of our friends telling us where it wasn't safe for us to live...which were all the places we could actually afford. We ended up moving to California where my partner's family owned a piece of land and a house that no one else in the family wanted. I had to quit a good job, and now I'm unemployed without unemployment benefits living in a rural county that doesn't have many tech jobs.
We're doing okay, but still our choices were limited because we're gay. And we were just lucky in the housing department. A lot of gay and transgender people have even fewer options. It's not like we can all afford to move to a gay friendly area, to find a gay friendly employer and a gay friendly landlord or realtor.
So, no, I'm not satisfied. I am happy that this one thing was achieved. And I'm happy for gay servicemembers and gays who want to serve can now.
Nicely written, Jamil!