Archived Radio Show

Original Radio Show  ID:
WSA211206

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Featuring

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1. Commentary by Elaine B. Holtz, Host of Women's Spaces

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1. Commentary by our host Elaine B. Holtz:  For today's show I do not have a guest and will be talking about Our Herstory is our Strength, play a few songs and read a poem.

 Today is also a special day, on December 6, 1944, my sister Evelyn Diane Holtz was born. Happy Birthday baby sister, wishing you a joyous day and healthy life. My mother to be honest was happy that she was not born on December 7th which was the day that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and it was the beginning of World War II for the United States.

Just for fun I thought I would find two women who were born on the 6th of December to find out whose shoulders my sister is standing on because of her birthday. See the Herstory section below.

Tomorrow is December 7 the date of the day in 1941 that the Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor External, Hawaii Territory, killing more than 2,300 Americans.. I was only 1 ½ years old when this happened, and I can only imagine how horrible that day was, and the US declared war. What is even sadder is because of that event the Internment of Japanese Americans.

In the United States during World War II, about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom lived on the Pacific Coast, were forcibly relocated, and incarcerated in concentration camps in the western interior of the country. Two-thirds of the internees were United States citizens. These actions were ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Although their families were treated unjustly in this way, more than 33,000 Japanese Americans served in the military with honor during the war.” On December 18, 1944, a divided Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-3 decision, that the detention was a “military necessity” not based on race. Many still believe it should not have happened. It is a dark mark on our history,.

Shout out to the National Organization of Women Sonoma County Chapter for organizing a gathering in Sebastopol in support of a women’s right to abortion/choice. On Wednesday December 1st hundreds of activists circled the Supreme Court in Washington DC to support abortion justice organized by the Women's March. December 1 was the day the court began hearing arguments for Dobbs versus Jackson Women's Health organization,

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Back to the Vigil. One of the best signs I saw expressed exactly how I feel. Let’s take care of the children who are born. Since we are talking about saving lives how about stopping the killing of children in war zones, due to lack of medical care or the dangers of guns. Four children were killed by a fifteen-year-old boy. Another sign I saw was, “I wish they would make the same noise about gun control as they do around abortion. We all need to let our representatives know how we feel about this.

That song in our playlist, Mr. Politician, by Ellen Bukstel is just as timely today as when it was written. With all these court cases and new legislation around abortion it is still a mystery to me why there is so much emphasis on “save the fetus,” you are killing a human being when we are killing those born in so many ways i.e., cops killing children, happened in our own community, homelessness, inadequate nutrition because of economics, many are without medical and dental care. Look at the war zones how many children are dying, where are the right to lifers when that happens. Feels like there is so much emphasis on abortion in lieu of what I mentioned. For me, well I am not for or against abortion I am for a women’s right to choose and her privacy. Her decisions and actions are none of my business.

How about gun control? My heart goes out to all those parents who lost their four children in the horrible shooting at Oxford High School. These beautiful young children, the hope of the future, from good homes who wanted them, gone because individuals who are supposed to be governing and protecting are doing nothing around gun control, I truly hope justice is served and all parents learn a bit more responsible particularly around guns. I know most are but even they need to check out how it is being handled.

I am going to read a short poem I wrote in the late sixty’s; it is part of a poem called, When Johnny Comes March Home.

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I am going to talk a bit about Congressional Uncivility, suffered by Representative Ilhan Abdullahi Omar. She goes by the name, Omar and is the first Somali American and the first naturalized citizen of African birth in the United States Congress, and the first woman of color to represent Minnesota. She is also one of the first two Muslim women (along with Rashida Tlaib) to serve in Congress. She has been the target of several death threats, harassment by political opponents, and false and misleading claims by Donald Trump.

Last week, House Republican Lauren Boebert told what she and her audience considered a very funny joke about Representative Ilhan Omar. The premise of the joke is that Muslims are terrorists. If you don’t think Muslims are terrorists, you won’t enjoy the joke. Boebert and her supporters cracked up. They also enjoyed her describing Omar as a member of the “Jihad Squad.”  What has the Republican Party become?

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Herstory

Our history is our strength. Check out important dates to remember in herstory at the National Women's History Alliance

Herstory Birthdays:

December 6, 1815 (1884) – Jane Swisshelm, suffragist, wrote articles for local papers against slavery, for women’s rights, and against legal inequities, led to close friendship with Mary Todd Lincoln.

December 6, 1927 (2002) – Patsy Mink, first Japanese American Congresswoman (D-HI), wrote the Women’s Educational Equity Act, played a key role in the enactment of Title IX, which was renamed posthumously as the “Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act”.

Herstory Events:

December 1, 1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white person; her arrest sparks the modern civil rights movement in the US.

December 5, 1935 – Mary McLeod Bethune creates the National Council of Negro Women.

December 7, 1941 – Capt. Annie Fox receives the first Purple Heart awarded to a woman for her service while under attack at Pearl Harbor.

As a supplement to the History of individual women, I thought it would be a good idea to remind us how far we have come and some of the changes that were made giving women more independence and a voice, therefore for the next few months beginning November 1, 2021, this segment will include:

40 Basic Rights Women Did Not Have Until The 1970s

The list is thanks to HistoryCollection.com, which cites the sources:

  https://historycollection.com/40-basic-rights-women-did-not-have-until-the-1970s/  

21. Women Couldn’t Serve on A Jury

Prior to the 1970s, females serving on a jury was rare but not impossible. It did happen but it hardly ever occurred before the 1970s... Many states didn’t allow women to sit on a jury until 1973 when all 50 states made it a requirement that females were allowed to participate.

20. Likewise, They Couldn’t Serve on The Supreme Court.

The 1970s became a groundbreaking decade for women in the legal field. During the 1970s, more law schools started accepting women; they could serve on juries and become lawyers. The legal industry began to bloom with women interested in a legal career. However, it wasn’t until 1981, when Sandra Day O’Connor received a seat for the Supreme Court. She held this position until 2006 when she retired. Other than O’Connor, three other women have served on the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan.

19. Girlfriends Couldn’t Legally Live with Their Boyfriends

Today many dating couples don’t think twice about living together with each other before getting married. However, this wasn’t the case around 50 years ago. During the 1970s, many states had laws against living with your significant other before marriage. It wasn’t until 2013 when all fifty states adopted the law to allow couples to live together without getting married first.

18. Women Couldn’t Purchase Athletic Shoes

The history of women in sports is different from the history of men in sports. While women usually purchase at least one pair of athletic shoes today, this was something women couldn’t buy until the end of the 1970s and into the early 1980s. The biggest reason for this was that women didn’t have a considerable spot in the sports world until around the 1970s. However, just because women didn’t have athletic shoes designed for them didn’t mean they didn’t buy the shoes. Instead of women’s shoes, they had to purchase athletic shoes designed for men.

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Announcements 

Sunday, December 12, 2021, 1 pm, SAGE Fundraiser:  Circle Song with Copperwoman, Arlene Francis Center, Santa Rosa.

Sonoma Independent - Public Interest Solutions and Advocacy (Jonathan Greenberg, Independent Journalist); SAGE and other campaigns:  www.sonomaindependent.org

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The 2021 Peace & Justice Center's Annual Awards Online Ceremony of 11/13/2021 can be viewed online at the Center's youtube channel:  https://youtu.be/cwoTmx6CjRE

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Music Selections

The Opening and Closing Theme song The Woman in Your Life is You is done with permission of the Composer and Singer Alix Dobkin ((August 16, 1940 – May 19, 2021) Alix Dobkin death was just announced - Thank you for all you did for Lesbians to be recognized and Women to be honored. May you rest in peace. See our Interview with Alix Dobkin on 12/1/2014 at   and our Memorial to Alix Dobkin on 11/24/2021 .

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For music purchasing opportunity, supporting the artists: 

Link:  Spinitron.com Playlist for Women's Spaces Show