Just because something is the “status quo” doesn’t mean it is the right status quo.
Colored water fountains were the “status quo” in the early 1960s in many parts of the United States. If you were a child in those parts, that’s what you saw in public places.
Fortunately, there were people who felt colored fountains were wrong and fought to abolish their existence.
They made their views public to the media, they pressured politicians, they staged sit-ins, they boycotted business who discriminated, they marched.
And from that pressure, politicians brought legislation to end their existence.
Imagine, if the people in the 1960s accepted colored water fountains as the status quo.
Imagine if they sat back and said “Oh politics is politics, I need to just live my life.”
Where would society be?
It is our obligation as members of society to fight for what is right, to always be historically correct in everything we do.
You may not think your actions, your calls for change, your protests, your votes mean anything.
Every time you think that, think of colored water fountains. And think of the people that took action in the 1960s which led to the passing of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which began the process of ending segregated public fountains.
Their actions made a difference.
Every action counts. Fight for what you believe in.
Whether it’s in the class room, at work, in the board room, at home with relatives, wherever you are. Fight.
I try to not get political because of the divisive nature of politics.
I will never tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do. We all have different lives going on and different means based on what’s going on.
But to use a sports metaphor, if you always stay on the sidelines, and you never enter the game, I know this, you won’t make an impact on the game.
And it’s especially sad if you don’t make an impact in that game when that game is present day life and society.
—
Any facts cited came from here:
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/fountain-drinks/
Photo came from here:
https://levinemuseumofthenewsouth.blogspot.com/2014_06_01_archive.html