Norman Lear.Photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage
Norman Learis using his milestone 99th birthday to raise awareness around socio-political issues in the U.S. he feels passionate about.
He continued, “I am a patriot, and I will not surrender that word to those who play to our worst impulses rather than our highest ideals. When the United States entered World War II, I dropped out of college to fight fascism. I flew 52 missions with a crew in a B-17, dropping bombs 35 times. Unlike so many others, I returned from that war safely, to another 70-plus years of life, love, family, failure and triumph.”
Norman Lear.Morgan Lieberman/WireImage
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TheJeffersonscreator went on to pay tribute to theTuskegee airmen, a group of primarily Black military pilots and airmen who fought in WWII.
“It’s very likely that I owe my a– and all those decades of human experience to that Black and Brown squadron of Red Tail P-51 fighter pilots known as the Tuskegee airmen,” he wrote. “When we saw their red tails coming to escort us, we all felt a bit safer.”
“Yet when these courageous men returned to the United States, they returned to racism, segregation and discrimination. Their heroism did not shield them from the indignities and violence of Jim Crow. I can only imagine the depth of the betrayal the airmen must have felt, but it did not prevent many of them from accomplishing great things.”
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Lear said he finds it “deeply discouraging” that some parts of society haven’t seemed to progress much since then, citingvoter suppression bills, federalvoting rights lawsbeing blocked in the Senate and rising “racial and religious nationalism.”
“The right to vote is foundational to addressing all these issues. It is at the heart of everything I have fought for in war and in peacetime,” he stressed, later concluding, “Protecting voting rights should not be today’s struggle. But it is. And that means it is our struggle, yours and mine, for as long as we have breath and strength.”
In addition to his impassioned article, Lear marked his birthday with a touching video posted onInstagramSunday.
“I’ve got a question for you,” he began in the clip. “I’m 99 years old, I’m sitting in this place in Vermont. I’d like you to take a look at this view I have — I mean, if there’s anything more beautiful than that on God’s green earth, I don’t know what it is.”
“I found the place a great many years ago, it belongs to my six children, my glorious six children,” he continued. “And my wife and I are here to celebrate this 99th birthday with all of them, kids and grandkids. I want to know if there’s anybody you know or [have] heard of in the history of humankind more fortunate than I. Can’t think of one, can you?”
source: people.com
