In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
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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