Who was Mildred Loving, you ask? Mildred Loving was one of the most important civil rights activists during the 1960s though she had no wish to become an activist at all. In 1958, Mildred Loving and her husband Richard were arrested for getting married. Yes, married. Mildred was black and Richard was white, and their marriage violated the law in the state of Virginia.

Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia was a watershed in civil rights law. In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court decided Loving. In a 9 to 0 ruling, the Court declared Virginia law unconstitutional — no state had the right to deny marriage on the basis of race. Only 41 years ago were people given the right to marry whomever they wanted in the United States.

Mrs. Loving died of pneumonia this past Friday, survived by children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a historic decision granting freedom to many.

Various news outlets have been running the story about a Duke University student named Grace Wang who made the “mistake” of trying to get pro-China and pro-Tibet protestors to sit down and talk about their differences rather than simply shout slogans (and possibly throw fists) at each other. She stepped in when she saw roughly a dozen pro-Tibet protestors being swarmed by a crowd of several hundred Chinese.

For her efforts, Ms. Wang has been labeled a “traitor” to her country (China) and her parents (who live in China) have had to go into hiding to avoid being killed.

What is going on here?

Read the rest of this entry »

The Olympic torch has been lit, protest not withstanding. The summer games in Beijing are only a few months away. The news rumor mill now indicates that the word “boycott” is being bandied about by France and possibly the US (Speaker of the House Pelosi, in India speaking with the Dalai Lama used the word in saying that it wasn’t yet being considered so who knows what that means). There may be others, but these are the two that I’ve seen. Everyone, though, keeps telling China “we’re watching you” to indicate displeasure over a rather poor human rights record.

Two questions come to mind, and neither has anything to do with boycotting the Olympics.

First, if the human rights violations were so bad that everyone is now concerned, why were the Olympics awarded to China in the first place? Human rights problems in China are not a new phenomenon — rights have been being violated for decades. If the international community really wanted to say that such behavior will not be tolerated, then the Olympics should have gone to someone else.

Which brings me to my second question: Which country is not a violator of human rights? I can’t name one. We are all guilty of mistreating our citizens. The US is a huge violator of human rights, we just cover it up better (how else can you describe millions without health care, millions too poor to buy food, millions forced to live in poverty in not human rights violations). So if we are all guilty, why the arrogance in denouncing China?

Before you start pointing at the splinter in your neighbor’s eye, take a look at the beam in your own.

Boycotting won’t change a thing, so let the games begin.