Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/147169
THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET A Voice of Truth by MARGARET DICKSON Maybe it is because I am the mother of a daughter. The Civil Rights movement in our own country had many faces — Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and Maybe it is because other than my family and a number of longtime and precious many others who challenged and changed our laws. But the person who may have friends I value my education above almost everything else. Maybe it is because I am so deeply offended by people, be they Taliban or changed our hearts was not a person at all, but a fictional character, a young white Talibubbas in state legislatures and in Congress, who seek to impose their worldview girl growing up in the Jim Crow south. Scout, a character of uncommon intelligence on others by law or by force. and empathy, watches as her highly ethical father, a small-town lawyer in Mississippi, defends a black man charged with raping a white woman. Harper Lee published Whatever the reasons, I was riveted to my television set and moved almost to tears her one and only novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, in 1960, just before the Civil Rights by the words of Malala Yousafzai speaking, in English, at the United Nations earlier movement exploded all across America. Scout and her fictional father, Atticus this month to nearly a thousand young leaders from more than a hundred nations. Finch, are enduring characters in American life, because they showed us kindness, She called for a "global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism" and called on world leaders in every nation to provide free compulsory education for every child. decency and the right path at a difficult and pivotal time in our nation's history. To Her name may not ring an instant bell with you, but her story will. Malala is the Kill A Mockingbird remains a bestselling novel today. It is required reading in many young Pakistani teenager who, on her way home from school, was attacked and shot American high schools and still sells 750,000 copies a year. in the head last October by Taliban fighters. They hoped to silence her advocacy Several surveys have rated it second only to the Bible in "making a difference in for education for every child, everywhere. At the time, a spokesman for the Taliban people's lives," and no less a personage than former librarian and First Lady Laura faction which claimed credit for the shooting justified it this way. "She was pro-West. Bush has said "… the book changed how people think." She was speaking against the Taliban … She was young but she was promoting Scout and Atticus were the right characters at the right time to condemn racial Western culture in Pashtun areas." discrimination and to show us that goodness can prevail over Malala was successfully treated in London, and we are hearing pervasive evil. from her once again. Her advocacy is stronger than ever and Malala Yousafzai made her speech at the United Nations on her moving onto the world stage. sixteenth birthday, wearing a traditional Pakistani outfit and a scarf It seems to me that the major social, political, and moral said to have belonged to slain Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. movements, at least over the last century or so, multi-layered Although she had written on education and freedom prior to her and sweeping as they may have been, are largely embodied in shooting, the UN address was her first formal speech. the persona of an individual. The individual becomes the face of Here is some of what she said. "The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop change, change that is powered by complex and intertwined forces Malala Yousafzai which become truly understandable only through the prism of our ambitions, but nothing changed in my life but this: Weakness, fear history and reflection over time. and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born. Mahatma Gandhi was this person for Indian nationalism and its eventual "The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of and inevitable independence from Great Britain. He advocated non-violent civil the voice of women frightens them. disobedience in pursuing independence as well as human rights, including for India's "Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. women, reducing poverty and eliminating India's restrictive caste system. He was One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education is the assassinated by forces which thought he was too tolerant of outside religions. only solution." To this day, Gandhi remains the face of India and of non-violence. He was the right Malala Yousafzai, though still a child, is becoming the face of man at the right time. worldwide education for all, including women. Nelson Mandela followed Gandhi's peaceful example and became the face of antiHistory will very likely find her to be the MARGARET DICKSON, Conapartheid in South Africa. He, too, was the right man for his time. right woman at the right time. tributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. Daily Specials • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner Fresh Seafood • Hand Cut Steaks • Homemade Desserts • Italian & Greek • Children's Menu Banquet rooms available up to 100 guests UP & COMING WEEKLY'S Local Classifieds Stedman • Eastover • Spring Lake • Hope Mills • Fort Bragg 4 lines / 7 days = $11.95 All ads online! WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-2:30 pm Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! Ask us about Free Ads and Yard Sale Kits! • Contact Christina Edge • classifieds@upandcomingweekly.com 484-1009 www.upandcomingweekly.com JULY 31 - AUGUST 6, 2013 UCW 7