Dec 05 2008 / American Civil Rights Today
by Dyah Pritadrajati, Indonesia 08-09
hosted in New York City
Our cluster had arranged a very interesting activity related to the US Government. On November 21, we went to the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). Before we went there we had to prepare at least one question that we were going to ask to Mr Antonio Romero.
We had an absolutely great meeting with him. He is such a nice, open and smart guy. And he said that he has been to Indonesia (Jakarta), and he gave compliments about my country, which was so nice and made me proud of my country. The ACLU office has really strict security, but I’ve already gotten used to this kind of security, because before I came here, there was strict security in the airports also.
The questions that we asked were about his opinion on which level of government should be responsible for civil rights, and about racism in the USA after Obama had been chosen as the 44th President of the USA. He answered my questions very clearly. He said, “It’s a difficult decision to choose which one about the level of government." He explained that we should make a common base of rights, because not all people know about their rights and the ACLU has a responsibility to help educate them. He answered, “It should be both, state and federal government," because different states have different problems but we need a common base for the law.
Then we talked about the racism issue. November 4th was a historic day for the USA. Obama is the first black president; it was not only in the USA people shouted his name, but all over the world people know about this news. This news caused a commotion all over the world even in my country, because he lived in Jakarta when he was a child, and I hope his election will lead to a better relationship between Indonesia and the USA.
Racism still happens even nowadays; for example my friends have their own group for black students in the cafeteria and they usually hang out in the black teacher’s rooms. Mr Antonio Romero said, “It’s because they have the same feeling and fate, and maybe the white students can’t feel that, so that they make their own group.”
Black people used to have different public facilities from white people, for example white people had their own café where only white people could go. When I went to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, I found the Greensboro Lunch Counter that used to be a lunch counter only for white people. It’s the site of the Greensboro sit-in during the civil rights movement. There were 4 black students who came to that lunch counter and wanted to be served, and they stayed for 6 months until they were served and Woolworth desegregated all its lunch counters.
And this is a beautiful quote from Franklin Eugene McCain, one of the four students who began the Greensboro sit-in: “We decided it was really up to us to find relief for this kind of thing we were suffering. And what started out very personal turned out to be very public.”
So what do you think now about this issue? What are you going to do next? It could be a good reflection for us.
Post your thoughts here.
