This is Viewpoints for Friday, August 19, 2016

We can only hope

As if we haven’t endured enough guff already, we will get much more between now and the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. As one political pundit so aptly said, we must choose between the lesser of the two evils and the better of two lessers.

Our choices are limited to a bumbling, babbling buffoon who won’t shut up and a chronic liar who, when she was caught lying on national television, attributed it to her having “short-circuited.” We deserve better. Hopefully, come the next presidential election four years from now, we will have candidates who are certifiably sane, honest and deserving of our votes.

Told you so

Well, well it has come to pass. Three years ago, I sent in a letter saying that all the butt kissing going on between the union leadership (elected) and management would be the downfall of the union. To even have the 21st Century Partnership president make a statement shows where the elected officials were headed. The 21st Century Partnership has no business sticking its nose in union business anyway.

I cannot remember at any time in the past when there was as much bull going on at the union hall. And I been a dues paying member for 20-plus years. For the first time in a long time I can say I told you so. Where is Tom Scott now? You can bet your bottom dollar he ain’t down at the union keeping things straight and not sucking up to management.

All the same

I am 90 years old. I grew up during the Great Depression. When I was growing up I had never seen a black person due to segregation. White people and black people lived in different parts of Macon.

One day my mother took me to window shop on Cherry Street. On our way we stopped at the Krystal and ate lunch. I was 6 years old. When we went out the door I saw my first black person. There were several of them in line. They had ordered their lunch and paid for it. They didn’t sit down at a table and eat. They went outside and squatted or stood on the sidewalk to eat. I asked my mother why these people didn’t sit down and eat the way we did. She told me it was because they were black. I knew from the frown on mother’s face not to pursue the subject.

I watched them eating while we waited for the bus to go home. I saw an elderly man, a black man, with beautiful white curly hair. I let go of mother’s hand and turned to face the old man. I said to him, “Can I feel your hair, please?” The old man with a beautiful smile said, “Of course you can, honey.” I ran my hands back and forth through his hair as he stooped over so I could reach him. His hair was so soft and it felt so good. I thanked the man and his smile was great. The black people were laughing at this strange request from a little red-haired, curly-locked white child. I have never forgotten that experience and I never will.

Every time in my life that I have had car trouble a black man has stopped to help me. The white men just passed me by. When I was teaching school, I had black ladies for housekeeping and who took care of my four children. I loved all of them. I believe God loves all people.

When I hear about black men being shot and so often for no reason, it makes me hurt inside. Some way, some how, this planet has to learn to treat all people the same, no matter what their color is. Inside our bodies we are all the same. X-rays show we all have the same organs, same color. There is no difference unless we make it a difference by our actions.

No room for doubt

Dr. Bill Cummings is so out of line in his statements on July 10. Cummings starts quoting a Bishop Sprog about his beliefs concerning the Resurrection of Jesus and the scriptures following the Resurrection.

The Resurrection is not a myth of any kind. Matthew, John, Peter, James and many others saw the tomb where Jesus laid was empty. Mary Magdalene was the first person to go to the empty tomb. She was a very much alive lady who was a believer in Jesus. It does not matter how many years passed until the scriptures were written, the above men were there when it all took place.

The bishop and Cummings need to keep their myths to themselves and stop being so confusing in what they write. Their statements of contradicting what the Bible says causes many people to have doubts about the Bible. The ones that may not be grounded in the word are the ones that will suffer because of what is being said.

I am not any kind of scholar or doctor in anything, but I do believe what the Bible says and take it at face value because it is the written word of God. There are many things I don’t understand in the Bible but that does not stop me from accepting it as the word of God. I believe with all that is within me that Jesus was risen from the grave by the hand of God.

The head napkin was folded and not wadded up, so that alone tells me that he is coming back because his work is not finished here. That is not a myth either. May God have mercy on us that doubt his word. This is my story and I’m sticking to it.

Different KKK?

Jay Reeves in his July 1 story said the KKK died after the Civil War and was reborn in the ‘60s. Reeves seems to connect the original KKK with the KKK of the ‘60s. He has it all wrong. There is no connection. The KKK of 1865 was unique. The KKK was indeed formed after the war in 1865, but continued its work until 1877. It didn’t die. It disbanded when its job was done.

The KKK formed in 1865 because there was no other recourse to justice and protection for the Southern states, for the families of white and black people. The South was under martial law, ruled by a “carpetbagger” government. The rights of whites, even to vote, were taken, but voting rights were given to the freed slaves. Thus, the South was plundered and oppressed for 12 years after Lee surrendered to Grant. The KKK protected the people’s rights to their property from vandals and from threats to their families. And, they helped to end the tyranny of the Reconstruction.

The KKK that formed in 1915 and again in the ‘60s was completely different in principles and motives from the original clan. And, most important of all, the KKK of 1865 were not anti-black.

This story was originally published August 18, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, August 19, 2016."