I'm not saying to you that every element of segregation and discrimination and second-class citizenship has changed. But in the political sense, the world has changed. People now who want to vote can vote.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Many have fought for and even lost their lives to end segregation, to win the right to vote. It disappoints me to now have to cajole people to register and to vote.
Since the birth of our Nation, no other right has been more important than having the ability to vote. Unfortunately, as history has shown, the denial of this right to minorities is a scar on our system of democracy.
While housing discrimination and segregation in 2005 still affect millions of people, that's not the way it has to be. Some things can change and should.
Countless black citizens in the South couldn't vote. They were second-class citizens from cradle to grave. The discrimination was terrible, brutal.
The more that voting is glorified as a panacea, the more lackadaisical people become about preserving their constitutional rights.
No change can come if those who are impacted the most by discrimination are not willing to stand up for themselves.
I try hard to convince them it's important - but there's a history of discomfort with minorities voting in some parts of this country, so most especially the older people have to get accustomed to it.
Racial segregation has come back to public education with a vengeance.
We are now operating a school system in America that's more segregated than at any time since the death of Martin Luther King.
Tremendous changes are taking place in our country, eradicating the concept of second-class citizenship.