A Lost Opportunity

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Out of everything we saw today, from the haunting confederate cemetery to the faces of the people who died for the CRM, what caught my attention was a picture of a white man getting beaten by the police for fighting for civil rights. I have seen pictures of white people supporting the CRM many times before, but when looking at this picture at the Greyhound bus station I immediately thought of someone who had the potential to change America for the better. After meeting Andrew Young and Charles Mauldin, I think many of us on this trip would say that we need more people like them running our country. I think many people outside of this trip would say that we need more people like them running our country. However, I don’t actually think a lot of people, specifically liberals and democrats, would actually vote to put someone who risked their lives in the fight for the most basic human rights into office. In fact, I know this to be true because it happened about 1-2 years ago. We celebrate days like MLK Day to acknowledge the importance of the Civil Rights Movement. But if we, as a country, actually realized how important it is, why couldn’t we, as a country, vote for the one candidate that showed us he really cared about equal rights for everyone? The reason is right in front of us, and it’s the same reason it took over 200 years for this country to “ensure” equal rights for everyone. 

Alicia Whye 

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