Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other--The Sequel

It occurs to me that all of my recent postings are about black women. Well, I need to add one more to that list, for a fairly ominous reason. The following is reprinted from a news item I read online, about something that happened a few days ago:

"Juanita Goggins, the first Black woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature, was found alone in her home, having apparently died of hypothermia.

"Goggins, the youngest of 10 children, grew up the daughter of a sharecropper in rural Anderson County, about 100 miles northwest of the capital. She was the only sibling to earn a four-year college degree. Her bachelor's in home economics from then-all-black South Carolina State College was followed by a master's degree.

"She taught in the state's segregated schools, married a dentist and got into politics. In 1972, she became the first black woman to represent South Carolina as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Two years later, she became the first black woman appointed to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.

"I am going to Columbia to be a legislator, not just a black spot in the House chambers," she told The Associated Press in 1974 following her victory over an incumbent white man from a district just south of Charlotte, N.C." End of story.

Thirty-six years later, Juanita Goggins froze to death, alone.

After living in developing countries as long I have, I can understand why many people think America is the Land of Milk and Honey, where everybody has enough of everything. To some folks, even the worst of what happens in the US is better than life for the average person in the Third World. But of course horrible things happen in America, of course some people are very poor, and go without the basic necessities of life. And this story horrifies me as much as some of the things I witness over here, maybe even more.

That a woman of Goggins' stature, who made an historic contribution to South Carolina politics, froze to death alone, just guts me. Who knows, maybe she was too proud to ask for help, or maybe she was a loner who isolated herself and nobody knew she was in trouble. Hell, maybe she was the Town Crazy Lady who cursed people out, or who ranted or raved and scared small children.

I don't know. I don't need to know. All do know is that Juanita Goggins should not have died that way. A human tragedy is a human tragedy, whether it's in Kenya or in South Carolina.