I was born in 1966.
I am six days older than Star Trek (I’m going by the premiere date, not the production schedule). BTW: Star Trek premiered in Canada before it was shown in the US. That Girl also premiered after I was born.
I am also ten days older than The Monkees. The man formerly known as Jimmy Hendrix officially changed the spelling of his first name to Jimi this month and year, too.
For car buffs, Chevrolet debuted the Camaro. Sorry. I’m a Mustang Shelby girl.
Jerry Lewis held the first MDA telethon this month. Wow, telethons. That’s something I hadn’t thought of in a long time. Thanks to Trump and DOGE, they might have to make a comeback. For those too young to have seen this cultural event, check out the movie Americathon. It’s a great parody.
Politically, September 1966 was a powder keg. My birthday is the day George Wallace, then governor of Alabama, signed an order to defy school integration.
Not long after that CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality) marched into Cicero, Illinois. It was a protest against redlining and other racist housing policies. In 1951, Cicero’s upstanding citizens firebombed an apartment complex to prevent a Black family from moving in.
Idiots.
Back to 1966: MLK, Jr. negotiated a settlement with Mayor Richard Daley and the Chicago Housing Authority. CORE knew the settlement was a toothless tiger. They marched. They were attacked. The settlement was ignored.
The Civil Rights Act died in the Senate. It eventually passed and was signed.
The Vietnam War was escalating fast. The Secretary-General of the United Nations resigned because of it. The DoD announced its largest draft would take place the following year.
This is just a brief list of events from the month I was born. Some are fun. Others are much more important.
During my first ten years of life, political changes were making life better for everyone.
Congress proposed the 26th Amendment (giving 18-year-olds the right to vote) in March 1971, and it was ratified on July 1st that same year. Less than six months!
See, Congress can act fast… when they want to.
Did you know it was legal for a woman to have an abortion before it was illegal for a bank to deny credit to someone just because they were a woman?
Why am I listing all of this?
Because I am 60 and I am pissed.
I was alive when all of the rights that were finally recognized and legally granted protection to women, racial minorities, religious minorities, LGBTQ+, and any other group I may have overlooked in my headache-fueled writing.
Now, I am living through the demolition of everything I was told was right, and good, and made us a better nation. And guess what? They did make us a better nation.
Now, not only are all our civil rights and civil liberties under attack, but the lives of our family members, friends, and neighbors are under attack.
Our “one nation, under G-d” that supposedly provided “liberty and justice for all” has become an oligarchy. Worse, it’s a kakistocracy. We are being looted by the least qualified, most avaricious people ever given authority in our country.
I was wondering how I would greet my 60th birthday. I have a headache. I am depressed. I am angry. I am tired.
Happy Birthday to me.
Now, I’m off to call my Congress Critter. I have a few things I’d like to talk to them about.