Advocating Equity - Proud of You, Dad

This is a non-horsey post, but in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. I am sharing it here today.

My parents taught their children that all people were equal and to value other human beings. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. I will forever be grateful for that - I would have missed out on so many wonderful friendships had I been brought up differently.

I'd have missed out on knowing one of my dearest friends and sister, Lorna. We taught together when I lived in Illinois, and we became such close friends, we began calling each other "sister of the heart" or just "Sis" for short. (She's being sassy in this picture from Christmas and is blowing me a kiss.) We may live in two different states now, but we text every day and still call each other Sis. 

Lorna and me on her wedding day in 2015. That's her new husband, Michael, with us.

Dad practiced what he preached. I recently found evidence as to just how far he was willing to go to advocate for equity. As my sister Jenny sorted through his papers a few weeks ago, she came across a newspaper clipping of a column he had written for the newspaper. (Dad's weekly column was called Ten Pin Alley - my father was an avid bowler.) Not gonna lie, I was stunned when I read it, especially considering when he'd written this article - 1949. Seventy-two years ago. 

In it, he takes on The American Bowling Congress (ABC) who had a policy then that membership was limited to white men only. 

Dad wrote, "... To us, the pay-off in bowling is the score that a man compiles, not the color of his skin. We like to see every individual treated fairly and squarely, and we don't think the ABC is doing that. .... To have a better world in which to live, we must start at home and remove the restrictions. ... Let's be fair and open-minded, ABC... Let's make bowling all-inclusive and give our fellow man equal opportunity to enjoy this great sport."

You were absolutely right, Dad, and I am so proud of you for using your column to advocate for the fair treatment of Black men. I wish I'd known about this when you were alive and what the reaction was to your column after it went to press.

Most of all, I'd like to thank you for not only what you said, but even more, for your actions that reflected your deeply held convictions.

Wondering about women and their membership in the ABC? Read this excerpt from Wikipedia:

Historically, the membership of the ABC was all male (white males only in 1916–1950), but beginning in 1993 women were permitted to join. In 1916 the Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) was formed by a group of 40 women, and up until 2004 served as a partner organization of the ABC. The Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA) was established in 1982, after previously existing as the American Junior Bowling Congress founded in 1958, to serve youth bowlers from pre-school through collegiate level. Prior to the formation of the USBC, the national governing body for bowling was USA Bowling, which oversaw the participation of Team USA in international events. These four organizations merged to form USBC on January 1, 2005.