Left to right:  Linda Stettenbenz, Beth Bissmeyer, KA Owens, Becki Winchel, Morris Dees

Last Thursday evening, I had the great privilege to attend the KY ACLU's Bill of Rights dinner in Louisville with several other KFTC members. While the food was tasty and the company great, the real draw of the evening was the keynote address given by Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a man who has dedicated his life to working for and defending civil rights.

 Everyone at our table was gleefully surprised when he started his address by talking about his time in Kentucky decades ago where he was first introduced to coal mining in Appalachia and seeing the great work being done around fair taxes on coal by the Kentucky Fair Tax Coalition--the organization that later became Kentuckians For The Commonwealth.

 Dees spent some time talking about his childhood and his schoolteacher, a woman who condemned drinking and the unfair way blacks were being treated. Fast forward to the present, a time, Dees said, where there are over 926 active hate groups, which is a 50% increase in the past five years alone, crediting this in part to the election of Obama, the increase of Latino migrants, and the poor economy. "By year 2040, most of the people in this room will be a minority. That's frightening for some of the people in this nation and they are now rallying around what is 'their' America," referring to the anti-government rallies that have recently been held across the country. "There's a dark cloud in our nation today," said Dees. "The election of Obama gave so much hope. Now, he's having a very difficult time, but there have been dark days in the past, and we've gotten through them, and we will get through this."

 He then spoke about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his influence. "A lot has happened since Martin Luther King Jr. left us. Some of the issues have changed, but I still think he'd have faith in us if he were here today, said Dees.

 “I don't want to put words in his mouth, but I think if King were alive today, he might revise his 'I Have a Dream' speech and say something like, I have a dream that one day in the red clay hills of Georgia, in barrios, in ghettos, in reservations, the sons and daughters of former slaves and of former slave owners, the homeless, the poor, the powerless, those without health insurance, and those who hold the judicial and legislative keys to the economic prosperity of this country could sit down and learn to love one another.”

 Listening to Dees, a man who has done so much in the name of justice, felt like another kick in the butt  for me to do more, to take action. While we may feel that we've come a long way since the Civil Rights movement of the 60s, we can be sure that we've still got a long way to go in the fight to ensure that all people in this country enjoy the same rights and freedoms, that people can be who they are without becoming a victim of hate.

 Dees' ending remarks served as a rallying call for me and other youth: "When people like myself are gone and Dora (Dora James, of Ohio County, who received an ACLU scholarship after organizing a Gay-Straight Alliance at her high school) and people her age are leading this country, I predict there will be a book written about this young generation, the greatest generation, a group of people who are seeking to keep hope and justice alive.” That's a hell of a prediction to live up to, but I think we're up to the challenge. I hope we prove him right some day. 

-Beth Bissmeyer, Jefferson County Chapter