But has it?
The other day my son and I watched The Great Dictator starring Charlie Chaplin. The year was 1940. It would be more than a year before the United States would officially join World War II. The world was reeling from Hitler's rise to power. At home in the United States, it would be another 28 years before Jim Crow laws were legally removed from the books. We would then go on to enter two more wars, Korea and then Vietnam.
Some 78 years later we still find ourselves struggling and resisting ideals and beliefs of separateness and hatred, of dissent and violence, and his speech is just as relevant, just as persuasive and just as painful as it was in 1940, when a man in power was calling for the encampment and extermination of a people who were different in religion, in heritage, in culture, and that of people who dissented, opposed or disagreed, and desired a pure, white, fresh faced nation.
It wasn't until 1920 that women received the right to vote and we fought hard for that right. I hope that we as women will use our voting power to vote for good and righteousness. After all, it was not so long ago that we were marginalized and unable to make our voices heard. When we vote to remove rights away from one, we move towards removing rights for all. Let us learn and know our own histories and strive not to repeat them.
On Tuesday November 6, here in the United States we have the opportunity to vote.
I will be voting and I hope you will too.
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