What do these people have in common?
A. Phillip Randolph
Photographed on the Richmond Greenway
Dr. Martin Luther King
Rosa Parks
Malcolm X
Susan Sarandon
Joan Baez
Tim Robbins
Daniel Ellsberg
Jane Fonda
Cesar Chavez
Cindy Sheehan
Brothers Berrigan
Danny Glover
Alice Walker
Harry Belafonte
Gore Vidal
Lewis Hill
Jane Stillwater
Rep. John Lewis
Muhammad Ali
Helen Keller
Sojourner Truth
Susan B. Anthony
Doris Haddock (Granny D)
James Baldwin
plus the entire American Revolutionary Army who told King George to get lost!
All were dissenters who questioned authority under the protection of the 1st Amendment-- and by so doing helped to change the course of history.
... and of course, internationally, we have Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, and who can ever forget Burma’s courageous and beautiful Aung San Suu Kyl?
To this illustrious list I’d add my long time friend, Marilyn Langlois, for a lifetime of speaking truth to power, and whose values and principles have served us all by calling attention to human and environmental injustices.
The recent and sustained personal attacks upon her character have revealed the ignorance of those opposing her candidacy for public office. They obviously have no idea of how important and essential is the role of the dissenter to participatory democracy.
Whatever would the world have done had these brave souls not walked among us, holding us to live up to our highest ideals -- and the nation to keep to its promises granted by the Constitution and Bill of Rights?
How dare they?