Dispatches from the DOWN HOME DIVAS

 

#15 - Breaking News:  The Golden Rule

Berea College Pinnacle, February 25, 2013

 

DOWN HOME DIVAS REFUSE TO DISMOUNT DOLLYWOOD’S TENNESSEE TORNADO, PARTON DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY. 

SO-CALLED “DOWN HOME DIVA” ARRESTED FOR AGGRAVATED ASSAULT AND RESISTING ARREST AT BUCKHORN BASKETBALL GAME, COMMUNITY RALLIES IN SUPPORT.

ILLEGAL MOONSHINE DISTILLERY BUSTED IN DANFORTH HALL, CULPRIT IS RUMORED TO BE HOLDING HOSTAGES IN THE LOYAL JONES APPALACHIAN CENTER. 

TWEETS LEAK INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE, DOWN HOME DIVAS UNDER INVESTIGATION.  (follow us @down_home_divas !!!)

COL. SANDERS’ SECRET RECIPE MISSING FROM VAULT, DOWN HOME DIVAS UNDER INVESTIGATION. 

PAULA DEEN REPORTS TWO CRAZED FANS OCCUPYING SET OF HER NEW SHOW, DOWN HOME DIVAS UNDER INVESTIGATION. 

MADISON COUNTY CHAPTER OF RED HAT SOCIETY BANNED FROM ALL PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, DOWN HOME DIVAS ADMIT GUILT.

LOVE TRIANGLE DIVIDES DOWN HOME DIVAS:  THE MYSTERY MAN COMES FORWARD. 

Well, y’all know that none of that mess actually happened.  Us?  Never Most likely not.  We’ll save that for our Lifetime original movie. 

In honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, our brother and honorary Down Home Diva, this week’s Dispatch will focus on civil disobedience and the fight for equality.  For all of you who may not know, civil disobedience is what happens when sh** gets real, when the people must show their opposition to unjust laws by breaking them.  When the government doesn’t support the equality of all people, the people have to demand it.  The Down Home Divas are not strangers to the limelight or a mug shot and we’re not all that scared to go to jail for what we believe in. 

It’s easy to go about our action-packed Berea College weeks (devoid of personal time, each minute belonging to our fair institution) and not think of the beloved community.  The way we stay too busy is a crime in and of itself, but there are greater problems amongst us as people.  We are all different and we are not all equal.  The loving brotherhood Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior devoted his life to creating is yet to find a firm foothold here in our country and on our campus.  We see it only in glimpses.  Many people are still lodged in a daily fight for their rights, and you walk by them on the way to class, in the cafeteria and in your residence halls.   

Of course, we Down Home Divas know that our privilege is part of the problem and that us queers ain’t the only ones struggling.  But we will speak for ourselves. 

According to the law of these United States, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) people are second class citizens.  You know about the debate over our right to marry (which is such a shame, since we have to plan all y’all straight people’s weddings!) but what about the other things we’re denied?  Should we be unjustly evicted from our apartments, thrown out of a public restaurant or fired from our jobs, we can’t file suit against the person who did it.  Loving, committed same-sex couples don’t have the same rights that straight couples might not even notice:  insurance coverage, hospital visitation rights and the right to adopt children, to name a few.  Though more and more GLBT people are being lovingly embraced by their families and co-workers, many are not.  According to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, “Homosexuals are far more likely than any other minority group in the United States to be victimized by violent hate crime.”
What if you were straight and just perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered?  Then all of these things could happen to you as well.  Fairness is for everyone. 

GLBT people are standing up for their rights, so is everyone else working toward a better day:  workers, women, the disabled, immigrants, prisoners, people of all colors and creeds. No one is less human because of the way they were made.  How are we gonna get everyone else to see that clearly?

If you’ve just read all this, you’re probably a student at Berea College.  Let’s live up to the heritage of social justice our college was founded on.  It’s not all that damn hard to treat people like you want to be treated, many of you probably do it already.  Your Down Home Divas are calling you to be good to your brothers, sisters, elders and younguns, and stand in solidarity with those who are up against it.  There’s more organizations and communities for change at this school than you can shake a stick at!  Join one.  Use your scholarship to tell the truth about the way others are treated.  Pray in your own way for a better world, and if you don’t pray, show love for your neighbor.  If anyone else tells you that that’s not the way to act, tell them to go on somewhere.  As Dolly Parton once said, “If I don’t like where you’ve got it, I can tell you where to put it.” 
Y’all enjoy these Dispatches while they last.  Ethan dug out that old guitar that his mamaw gave him and as soon as Sam can teach him three chords on it, the Divas are headed down the road.  #OnToTheOpry.