Historical Events that I Remember and will Remember and Never Forget

The things I remember about history in my lifetime are a hodgepodge of events that touched us all, most of them shocking us. The first vague memory I have of historical significance is when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I was about 5 at the time and while I did not understand the significance of this Great Mans death, I was surrounded by people that were mourning this sad and horrible act. I can remember the adults crying and talking in hushed tones to protect us. I remember the crying, and the sadness. I grew to know what a good man JFK was and the vision of John John saluting his Fathers coffin is still in my head.

After that I grew to become 10 years old and saw Martin Luther King Assassinated. I remember the sadness then too, the shock at what had happened. Then came the Assassination of Robert Kennedy in California after winning the presidential primary in California. Again, Good and Decent Men all trying to make life in this country better for us ALL killed.

I remember in 1973 when we as women were granted our rights in Roe vs Wade to have the freedom to have an abortion legally. AS WE SAW FIT. I have now seen tis right taken away by men, old white men who think they are holy and we are not or should not have control over our own body.

I saw the end of the Vietnam War, and I was around for its beginning as well. I saw in 1973 the pull out of troops from Saigon and two years after the official end of the war. I saw our soldiers come home to be treated horribly and saw so many not come home. Kids that never knew what we fought for or why their own people would turn on them…

I saw the Oklahoma City Bombing, in 1989.  A home-grown terrorist destroyed the government building full of people and children… Murdered for no reason that would ever make sense. I was sitting in my bedroom after coming home from a midnight shift watching CNN in 2001 when I watched in disbelief and horror as a plane reportedly hit The World Trade Center and sat stunned as I saw the second one hit, then the pentagon, then the plane that Heroes forced down in a field in Pennsylvania. Osama Bin Laden and terrorists attacked the US at home. I still have the vision of watching as people were falling from the towers, saw the heroes on the ground stumbling  through the debris running for their lives.

II also saw the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I believed this to be a monumental victory for freedom. I voted for and watched as President Barak Obama became the first Black President in 2008 and sat at his Inauguration in 2009 with pride and hope for this Country. I felt great hope when he won again in 2012 for the second term.

I sit here now, an ole woman in her late 60’s as I watch history being changed, untruths filling the minds of people I once thought of as good people. I see fascism taking root in a country I always believed to be progressive and one of honor. I am watching as a felon has been made president and he is dismantling everything that I once considered great about this Nation.  I am seeing American military resign rather than be a part of what is happening in the Caribbean, watching as The Peoples House, The White House is being turned into a gaudy place for a pitifully inept man who wants to be a king. I am watching as the backbone of this country, the working class, is giving everything to Oligarchy that is taking away our rights, our insurance, our stability, robbing the coffers of our government and treating the Constitution as if it were an old rag.  I WILL REMEMBER ALL OF THIS TOO. May God have mercy on us all… The dumbing down of America has become the greatest tragedy ever. The recollection of Historic Events is being skewed by people who want history to be rewritten for their personal agenda. With those of us who remember it, because WE LIVED IT, the world is becoming a sad and frightening place. You can rewrite it, BUT YOU CAN NOT CHANGE IT.