In light of the season: the upcoming national party political conventions and the calamitous presidential race of 2016, we need a break. Something worthy, compelling, intelligent.
A reminder to all invested in upright governance and social justice. What seems difficult to define becomes more succinct and substantial when you listen to Barbara Jordan. A black child of the Deep South, born in 1936 in Texas. She worked with probity and civic pride, not bitterness and blame. Though here she speaks as and for the Democratic Party, her message is universal.
Barbara Jordan gave the keynote speech at the 1976 Democratic Convention. She was a great woman of exceptional clarity in the political arena. A woman of unwavering conviction coupled with a prodigious mind and speaking voice. Her message is solemn and inspirational.
“Dr. King opened the door Barbara Jordan showed us how to walk through it.”
Barbara Charline Jordan (February 21, 1936 – January 17, 1996) was a lawyer, educator, an American politician, and a leader of the Civil Rights movement. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, the first Southern African American female elected to the United States House of Representatives, the first known lesbian woman elected to the United States Congress (though this was not known to the public during her tenure), and the first African-American woman to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous other honors. She was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1978 to 1980. On her death, she became the first African-American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery. – wiki
I see 