Mourning Paris

 I have fond memories of Paris from September 1986. Eric, Erika, and I traveled to Paris via hovercraft and train from our home in England. Erika was 9 months old--a perfect age for traveling. I was looking forward to seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. I was worried about our lack of language skills, and I was kicking myself for not paying more attention in my high school French classes.
Strangely, I was not worried about dying on a Paris street. I say that because in September, 1986, a series of bombings in Paris had everyone on high alert. I would never have put my child in danger and yet it did not occur to us to cancel our trip.
 We spent a couple of days in Tour, France, and then made our way to Paris. We did notice the presence of French Army troops on almost every street corner, but seeing them made me feel safe. I was confident we could see the city with no problems.
This is part of what I wrote:  "Today we arrived in Paris about 1:30, so had time to go to Notre Dame in the afternoon. It is on the Ile de la Cite, an island considered at the heart of Paris. There have been 4 bombings in the past week in Paris, but people were free to go in and out of Notre Dame--no security presence noted....Stopped for pizza on way back to hotel [Erika ate her first solid food--a mushroom]--heard a big bang and a lot of sirens. Thought it was a bomb (so did all the other restaurant patrons), but did not hear about it if it was. 
Sept. 17th--Went to Louvre, and after waiting 1 1/2 hours in line for door to open, we found it was closed due to "bomb and for security measures". Went through the beautiful gardens to Champs-Elysee and saw for the first time that Paris is really being held hostage by those awful terrorists--there are security police everywhere, some in flack jackets and carrying rifles! Every time you hear a siren, you wonder if or where the bomb went off. Champs-Elysee was worse. You are searched at least once before going into stores. It makes you feel safe, but nervous.
Sept. 18th--Tried again at Louvre, but after 45 minutes, they posted a sign which said the same as yesterday. Surprised it has taken so long to clear the building [I guess I naively though they were looking for bombs inside the building, not protecting the art from further bombings]. We were saddened to hear of another bombing--this quite close to our hotel & it killed 5 people--the 5th bombing in 10 days....Erika kept taking her socks off today, and I was told in 3 different languages by concerned grandmother-types that her feet were cold."
We never did get in to the Louvre, but walked around the city and saw so much. It's a beautiful city, full of history, which is probably why it has been such a target of terrorists for years and years and years. I should mention now, reminding you, that in 1986, there was no internet, there were no cell phones, and it was very expensive to make an overseas call. Within an hour of arriving back at home in England, my mom called from the United States. She was frantic, wondering if we were all right; it never occurred to us to send so much as a telegram from Paris to let her know we were safe, and at the time I pooh-poohed her concern. (I remember blithely saying that if we had been hurt, we had our passports for identification and someone would have contacted her! (What an ass I was)).
 It's good I kept a travel journal from that time; I had forgotten so much of our time in Paris. As I hear more and more about the terrible events of last night, I find no comfort in realizing that the citizens of Paris have mourned like this before, have dealt with sheer terror like this. And I find myself, once again, wondering why...WHY...humans treat each other like this?? What gives another permission to kill the innocent, the guiltless? I know it happens every day, in places all over our world, but that doesn't make any less senseless. A new day, and more innocents die in the name of religion, ideology, or sheer blood thirst.
And again, we find ourselves mourning...this day, mourning Paris.

How Easily We Forget...So I Will Remind You

 In 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention was convened by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The reason for the Convention? To discuss the "condition of women" broadly, and specifically, to begin to organize and fight for a woman's right to vote.
That was in 1848. The 19th Amendment (giving women the right to vote) was ratified in 1920. I know you can do math, but I will tell you it took
 SEVENTY-TWO YEARS for women to win this basic right. 72 long, stressful years, in which women like Susan B. Anthony gave their whole adult lives (58 years) just to work for a woman's right to vote. Anthony worked for that right every day, and never saw it come to pass. She traveled extensively, through terrible weather, on all forms of ancient transportation (buggies, wagons, trains) and was harassed, spit on, and arrested.
Imagine how she would feel to read this:
"In last year’s national election, Indiana achieved the dubious distinction of having America’s lowest voter turnout, with 30 percent. In LaPorte County, where I live, turnout was abysmal: 18 percent. But this was called an improvement, since just over 13 percent voted in May’s primary."
  
During the SEVENTY-TWO YEARS they fought to secure the right for women to vote, women went to jail. Yes, to jail. The arguably most horrific period in which this occurred began in January 1917, when the "Silent Sentinels" first appeared in front of the White House. The women were peaceably assembling, but by September, when it was apparent they would not leave, and violence against them had not deterred them, the arrests started. The arrested women were sentenced to 30 days in the workhouse. Thirty days in the workhouse, just for asking for the right to vote.
Imagine how they would feel to read this: 
"In sheer vote totals, the downward trend over the past decade-plus is evident. On Tuesday, 8,558 people voted in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Dayton and Battle Ground. In 2011, that number was 11,816. In 2007, just under 16,000 people voted. In 2003, there were 19,641 voters. Tuesday represented a 27.6 percent drop-off in voters from the weakest turnout of the previous three municipal elections."

In the book, Jailed for Freedom, Doris Stevens talks about the experience of suffragists in the workhouse: "The building to which they took us was lighted up as we came to it...We were rushed into a large room that opened on a large hall with stone cells on each side...I saw Dorothy Day brought in. She is a frail girl. The two men handling her were twisting her arms above her head. Then suddenly they lifted her up and banged her down over the arm of an iron bench--twice..."
 Imagine how Dorothy Day would feel when reading this:
"The median age of voters this year: 62. That might be no secret. Older voters tend to be more invested in the community and tend to vote. Still, it’s striking. This week, 41.9 percent of the turnout was from those 65 and older; that same group accounts for 18 percent of the registered voters. Those under 35 accounted for 10.8 percent of the vote, despite making up 37 percent of the voter rolls."  

Again from the book:  "Alice Paul and Rose Winslow, the first two suffragists to undertake the hunger strike, went through the operation of forcible feeding three times a day until their release....[the following was written on scraps of paper and smuggled out of the jail] 'One feels so forsaken when one lies prone and people shove a pipe down one's stomach. Yesterday was a bad day for me in feeding. I was vomiting continually during the process. The tube has developed an irritation somewhere that is painful.'"
Imagine that these women, who gave so much for the likes of us, read this:

"Just 12.9 percent of voters showed up for elections in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Battle Ground and Dayton."

I know how I feel. Are you fucking kidding me?? Just 12.9% of us bothered to vote on Tuesday??!!! There are just no words for that utterly despicable lack of caring about the rest of us. 

Do you feel ashamed? You should.