Equality demands inclusion — We can’t have one without the other

Maybe it’s because I was born near the beginning of the 1950s, and I came of age in the turbulent late 1960s.

Maybe it’s because I vividly remember the unforgettable, unforgivable struggles of the Civil Rights Movement, the bombing of a Black church, the senseless killings and violence, the White-only drinking fountains and lunch counters, the snarling police dogs sicced on protesters who were then beaten by riot-gear-clad police with nightsticks and washed clean off the street by angry water from city owned fire hydrants, all the bashed heads on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Alabama Governor and future presidential candidate George Wallace proudly proclaiming, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever,” the 1964 overturning of Plessy v. Ferguson, the  U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that “separate but equal” rail car accommodations satisfied the Constitution’s equal protection clause, the political assassinations of the 1960s and frequently going to dinner in those days with a mixed-race couple so the White woman could sit in the booth next to a White man (me) instead of beside her Black husband so the other customers would think we White folk were just out together sharing a meal with one of our Black friends.

Maybe it’s because I remember my confusion and the absolute incongruity that caught in my throat when I realized the man who wrote these noble words in the Declaration of Independence — “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” — owned human beings as slaves at the moment he penned those immortal words, creating a new government specifically designed to guarantee those rights, one that fell far short of the new nation’s professed vision of freedom and equality.

Maybe it’s because I found myself aghast when I read the city’s resolution banning proclamations (written by the city’s attorney, no less).

According to Resolution No. 25-6423, “Whereas, the City Council of the City of Susanville desires to make City Council meetings a space where everyone feels welcome to come and participate in the running of local government; and Whereas, City-sponsored promotions or flag raisings of certain flags can be divisive and/or controversial in nature, which can alienate citizens from participating fully in the proceedings; Whereas, citizens and citizen groups are welcome to come and talk about their work, celebrations, events, and issues during public comment …”

Maybe it’s because I read this resolution this way: The Susanville City Council wants to create a space where everyone can feel welcome to participate, and we could accomplish that goal easily except for these divisive and controversial people who descend upon our meetings, force us to pass their proclamations all the while alienating all our our good citizens from participating fully in city government. So, we’re gonna fix this mess once and for all by doing away with city sponsored proclamations and welcoming everyone to come speak up at public comment. Then we only have to deal with these disrupters for three minutes.

Maybe it’s because the Susanville City Council just cut off its nose in spite of its face when it banned all city sponsored proclamations. All the council accomplished was to simply cancel its own ability to issue its own proclamations.

Maybe it’s because, perhaps more profoundly, the city council also failed to recognize the continuing plainly visible struggle for equality and acceptance by a group of its very own city residents who are still fully engaged in that struggle to this very day, at this very moment.

Maybe it’s because councilmember Patrick Parrish said the city council has no role in social justice issues (despite the fact our government’s stated purpose is to ensure each and every one of us can enjoy these God-given unalienable rights.)

Maybe it’s because the struggle for those unalienable rights is the same struggle regardless of who’s  involved.

Maybe it’s because a proclamation from the Susanville City Council recognizing that June is Pride month would mean the world to the LGBTQ+ community in Susanville.

Maybe it’s because equality demands inclusion. We can’t have one without the other.