Sunday, November 09, 2014

November 9, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall 25 Years Ago



25 Years Ago Today:
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. I was the Legal Counsel for Constitutional Rights at the Government Accountability Project.
Earlier that day, I had gave a speech to some 93 U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Law Judges at their annual training conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (asking them to be more sensitive to whistleblower rights).
That evening, I was on the telephone with clients, colleagues and friends in my hotel room before dinner when the videos shone: kids dancing on top of the Berlin Wall.
Wow!
The fall of the Berlin Wall had special meaning for me as one of German, Polish and Irish ancestry, whose significantly "better half" (Brian) was conceived in East Germany and born in West Germany.
The struggle for freedom and democracy continues.
Here, there and everywhere.
As LBJ said after Selma, "We SHALL overcome!"

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