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Writer's picturelisaannettestanley

1974. Dreaming of Equality Despite the Name Game


Fact-checking Race Day History for yesterday' s Houston Marathon, I was surprised to learn that the race was not held in 1974 in advance of moving the date to MLK Weekend. Why is that?

It would appear that the city-wide roots of sexist, misogynistic attitudes towards women started here, with people playing the NAME GAME & causing problems for all of the Milk Drinkers.

True equality has nothing to do with a name. It has to do with living the dream of treating all people as equals.

For example, I have two people in my life whose name is Scott - both are white. One is a man, one is a woman.

Does that mean that either one of these two people ACTUALLY ARE Corretta Scott King?

Of course not. It is playing the Name Game.

Today is MLK Day & Dr Martin Luther King Jr is a big deal around here, Part of the reason for that is Houston played a huge role in Civil Rights History with the struggle for equality for freed slaves playing out in Galveston in what has come to be known as Junteenth.

Texas was the last state in the Union to get word of the Emanicpation Proclamation on June 19th, 1865: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

I have been thinking along these lines for a very long time: what does it mean to live the dream of equality?

It seems that even the Black Community can't get along with each other with not one, but two warring factions holding MLK Day Parade Day Parades today.

The Black Heritage Society is holding their 40th Annual Martin Luther King Day Parade, billed as "the Original" MLK Day Parade.

Somewhere along the line, another Houston Group decided to start their own MLK Day Parade, the 24th Annual MLK Grande Parade-Houston, billed as "the Color of Unity."

Both of the two parades will be held simultaneously at the same time.

Interestinly enough, I'm not the only one around here to question the history of this. Here is a link to an article in the Houston Press that was as curious as I am as to how this happened:

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