by sheila morris
SEVENTEEN
17
I have nothing.
Greetings to all friends in cyberspace who will be in the Charleston area next Wednesday, the 7th. of February. The College of Charleston Friends of the Library and the Alliance for Full Acceptance headquartered in Charleston are sponsoring our panel discussion of Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home.
Harlan Greene who wrote the Foreword for our book will also discuss the beginning of a multi- year project to preserve and make accessible the historically endangered stories of LGBTQ communities in greater Charleston. Supported by a $200,000 grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, the College of Charleston Libraries’ project marks the first initiative of its kind in the region. Huge thanks are due Harlan and the CofC Libraries for their efforts to keep our history safe and available for future generations.
The project dovetails nicely with our Committed to Home authors who are exchanging views about their stories. I am so pleased to moderate our group which includes Harlan, Linda Ketner, Jim and Warren Redman-Gress. These essays are intimate accounts of their individual journeys to making South Carolina a better place to live for all her citizens, how these individual roads led to collaborating on the creation of organizations designed to achieve the goal of equality for everyone.
Our event is free and open to the public. However, reservations are required and may be made at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/committed-to-home-tickets-42316377424.
I understand seating is now limited, so if you are planning to be there, please register.
Charleston is a wonderful place to visit – I wish some of my cyberspace friends would take this opportunity to make a quick trip to the showplace of our state’s tourism. Pretty and I would love to see you!
Stay tuned.
I collect words and quotes like some people collect antique automobiles, and recently I’ve been interested in American presidential quotes on specific topics like, for example, immigration. The American Immigration Center offers quotes from noted Americans on the topic of immigration including the quotes of these presidents.
“I take issue with many people’s description of people being illegal immigrants. There aren’t any illegal human beings as far as I’m concerned.” Woodrow Wilson, 28th.
“Our attitude towards immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as their talent and energy allow. Neither race nor place of birth should affect their chances.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd
“As an immigrant, I chose to live in America because it is one of the freest and most vibrant nations in the world. And as an immigrant, I feel an obligation to speak up for immigration policies that will keep America the most economically robust, creative and freedom-loving nation in the world.” Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th.
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries {Haiti, El Salvador, other African nations} come here?” Donald J. Trump, 45th.
Shame on you, 45, for such a reprehensible comment that sullies the legacy of not only other great American leaders but spits on the words of the Statue of Liberty herself as she has welcomed the world on Liberty Island in New York Harbor since 1886.
Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shores.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me –
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
And finally, as I celebrate our national holiday today of the birthday of one of the greatest civil rights activists in our history, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I leave you with a personal favorite quote of his.
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous
than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Stay tuned.
In March of this year, two months after the inauguration of the 45th. president of the Unites States, the Department of Health and Human Services dropped questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in two surveys of elderly people (which must surely explain why I wasn’t included in either one of the surveys).
Shortly after the new administration took over the West Wing of the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services removed all information about LGBT Americans from its website. That’s right…deleted…gone…erased.
And now the words transgender and diversity are two of seven words no longer allowed at the Center for Disease Control according to a recent administration rule. The other prohibited words include vulnerable, fetus, evidence-based, science-based and entitlement.
Seriously.
In the spirit of bipartisanship, I decided to create my own list of seven forbidden actions for the West Wing inhabitants in 2018:
prejudice
discrimination
knee-jerk reactions
selfishness
alternative facts
early a.m. tweeting
maniacal nuclear threats
I lost my holiday spirit with this one, but I promise to retrieve it. Until then…
Stay tuned.
Thank you to the people of Alabama for restoring my faith and hope in a life-long American dream of liberty and justice for all and for reminding me that Every Vote Counts.
I especially want to thank the black women of Alabama for their contribution to this important win. I believe in your march to the polls yesterday I could hear echoes of the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose words are etched in stone in the Civil Rights Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
Just imagine if one day justice really could “roll down on us like waters and righteousness (which Webster’s everyday thesaurus describes as that which is honorable, ethical, honest, just, fair, equitable…) like a mighty stream.”
Until then…
Stay tuned.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
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