I took these pictures and wrote this post last summer, but was never satisfied with my text. Tonight, as a curfew has been imposed by our county and there is unrest all around us, it seems appropriate to remember these leaders.
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The Williamsburg County Courthouse in Kingstree, SC was built on a Revolutionary War era parade ground. In addition to the courthouse, which was built in 1823, and various war memorials, there are monuments commemorating Justice Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Martin Luther King.
A civil rights attorney, Thurgood Marshall succeeded in having the US Supreme Court declare segregated public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and in 1967 became the first black Justice on that Court.
“I did the best I could with what I had.”
Dr. Martin Luther King spoke locally on Mother’s Day, 1966, advocating the power of voting.
“Unless we learn to live together as brothers
Surely we will die apart as fools.”
My friend Joe asked me this morning “When did the world stop holding people accountable for their actions?”
I replied “When did people stop holding themselves accountable for their own actions?”
I think Dr. King and Justice Marshall, and many others who devoted their entire lives to bettering the world, would hang their heads to see the current state of affairs.
Paz
Thanks for commenting, Paz. Yes, and be dismayed how little things have changed. I know I am.