Greetings!
So I'm halfway through the excellent four part CNN series on the triumph and the tragedy of the LBJ year. [For you Millennials, Gen Xers and Yers, that's Lyndon Baines Johnson — the original LBJ, the 36th President of the United States — not the Akron phenom who produced tragedy for some when he twice left NE Ohio before and after his triumphant return).
Don't ask why, it just happened that I watched the last episode first, followed by the opening episode, where Johnson becomes President after President Kennedy is assassinated and surprisingly leads Congress to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the most meaningful civil rights legislation since the Civil War.
Watching the series is a reminder of that brief time when it seemed for a time that white America might put aside its prejudices in collective pursuit of a Great Society. That dream ran afoul, in large measure because of even the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen was not willing to spend enormous sums of money simultaneously for both guns and butter. Guns, i.e., the Vietnam War, won out, as they always seem to in these United States.
Today's posts on The Real Deal Press digital news platform remind us of that William Faulkner quote about the past not even being past. [We're taking the space to say digital news platform because so many of our favorite people, aka our readers, have different ways of describing this product — blog, newspaper, email, website, news site — that we thought we would share our evolved term of choice. We see ourselves as a daily digital news platform. But you can describe us however you want, just please keep rewarding us with your time and interest, as record numbers of you did last month, when we recorded more than 23,000 visitors and 73,000 plus page views.]
But back to the past. It truly seems back in spades when we read about the state party in power redrawing even state school districts in obvious retaliation for that momentary "racial reconciliation" period post-George Floyd when the Ohio Board of Education passed an anti-racism resolution. Now, the Governor, in full re-election mode, has decided to punish two of the black school board members who voted for the resolution. Meanwhile, across the street in the Statehouse, his friends in the super-majority are promoting bills that prohibit teaching of divisive concepts that touch on race and human sexuality, eliminate diversity training for teachers and other school staff, and ban books.
Also posted today are two COVID-related pieces — one even has good news, and the other has special resonance for seniors and their caregivers.
And in affirmation of our past, plans are underway in Akron for what is believed to be Ohio's first statute of a black woman.
Finally, ICYMI, Part II of our Shaker Square report was published yesterday evening. Find it here.
As always, stay safe and thanks for reading The Real Deal Press!
R. T. Andrews
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