No Votes for You

I follow only my relatives on Facebook, and that's it. My sister-in-law's husband Phil is a brilliant man, truly brilliant Senior Directer of IT in a school district. He obviously searches for and finds the weirdest stuff to send onto us, people who love him.

But, every now and then, he finds gems.

Woodrow Wilson had suffragettes picketing White House
They went on a hunger strike.  Then they were force fed raw eggs. More info

Here are some key phrases from the article you may access in "more info":

"...clubbed, beaten and tortured by guards at the Occoquan Workhouse...33 suffragists from the Nat'l Woman's Party had been arrested Nov. 10, 1917 while picketing outside the White House for the right to vote."

Some women were "tied by (her) hands to bars above her cell and forced to stand all night." One "suffered a heart attack and was denied medical care until the next morning". Hunger strikes resulted in forced feeding.

But there is more that happened. I won't detail the horror performed upon them.  This is something to relay: "The superintendent W.H. Whittaker (who) ordered beatings, called for Marines to guard the compound."

Pres. Woodrow Wilson and the Democratic congress stayed silent. 

This unequivocal torture and cruelty lasted so long, indeed long after U.S. involvement in and after WW1.  

At that time, 20,000,000 million women being regarded as chattel in America alone. In some countries there has been little or no change regarding the status of women.

Okay, I am done reciting the horrors of history and women.  

Thanks, Phil.

Wikipedia

Pain and Angst of Elections

Get out the vote!!

A hard fought campaign had raged for the past few months.  Opponents laughed and greeted each other affably, even providing a few fist bumps for the viewers.

Smiles continued until the debate.  Questions revealed the two snarling beasts within.  A week before the election, mud-slinging began, followed by character assassination.  

Voting Day came, with sighs of relief from both sides and the candidates.

The ballots were carefully counted, while candidates waited anxiously for THE announcement.  Then it came.

Principal Brook’s voice crackled through the PA:  “For the Fifth Grade President is Billy Hopkins and Vice-President Jimmy Rogers.  Let’s all congratulate Billy and Jimmy for such a great campaign.”

Crackle…hiss… and then silence.

Mr. Harman cleared his throat.  “Well, then.  Open your books to page twenty…”

The Letter R, the very important letter R

Source

If a random person was asked about the Constitution, I would wager (big money) that he could come up with only one or two of the rights that were established by this Document.  

Would they know about Amendment 15?  

Would they know how life changing this Amendment was after the Emancipation Proclamation?

The letter R is for:    Race

Article XV:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.  Passed on February 26, 1869.

While it took many decades for this Amendment to be enforced uniformly, this was the starting point.

And every good thing that happens needs a starting point.