Richard, Can I congratulate you, on your eloquence, but also on expressing the importance of values that I also believe to be so important. At 82 I feel entitled to comment and add to what you say. There has indeed been much progress in my lifetime, thanks as you say to people like MLK, but there is still a long way to go, which is why your wise words are so important. Taking just 2 equality issues, women's rights and race or colour, there is still a pay gap in many employments, equal pay is far from normal in the UK, and in life in general still doesn't treat women as equals. Sure it's not much more than my lifespan that women (wives) were considered to be the property of men, so of course there has been progress but there is so much further to go. If people can't see the bigger picture of male power in events like Epstein and all the other sex scandals, in the awful low level of prosecutions let alone convictions, in rape cases; then they are turning a blind eye. And that is so easy to do, which is why your point about the continuity of the fight for equality is so important.
On race, even in my childhood I can recall that boarding houses (I hope that term translates into American), would blatantly have notices saying "No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs". (I should probably explain that Coastal holiday resorts near my childhood home were a short distance across the Irish Sea, so immigration was an issue then even for the Irish). I could probably add that of course there were no gays in my childhood as homosexuality was still illegal. So there has been a lot of progress, but the fight must go on.
Peter thank you so much for this thoughtful comment, and for the kind words. I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to write it out. And yes, at 82 you've more than earned the right to add perspective here. Comments like yours are exactly why I post things like this in the first place: the "continuity" of this struggle isn't just an idea, it's something you've personally witnessed across decades.
You're also absolutely right about women's rights. It still blows my mind how recently women were treated like property (in both law and culture), and how many basic rights we now take for granted simply didn't exist. I remember my grandmother telling me about getting married and not being able to do certain things like open a bank account without my grandfather involved. The idea that an adult woman couldn't even fully control her own banking or credit is just staggering, and it shows how "normal" injustice can be when a society decides not to question it. And this was fairly recent history, the 1950s and 60s.
And your point about power dynamics and how easy it is for people to look away, especially in cases involving sexual abuse, is painfully true. Turning a blind eye is always the easiest option, which is exactly why MLK's message about silence and complacency still hits so hard. It's not just history, it's a warning label.
Your memories of "No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs" are chilling, and it's a perfect example of how openly discrimination used to be displayed with no shame at all. And I think you're right to point out that the "bigger picture" includes more groups than people always remember. Even in my own family I heard stories: my grandfather (who raised me) told me he didn't legally adopt me partly because of his Italian last name (Sperduti), because he felt it made life harder. That stuck with me. Today, Italian names sound cool to most of us, but it wasn't always that way, and it's a reminder of how prejudice can shift targets, change costumes, and keep going unless people push back. And no, not all Italians are "mobbed up," but someone knows someone who has a cousin that can find a VCR that "fell off a truck." Just kidding!
Thank you again, Peter. Your comment adds real weight to the message. We've absolutely made progress, but as you said so well, the fight must go on.
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