Posted on 01/12/2024 7:18:48 PM PST by nickcarraway
At the age of 97, just stepping out of a 4-by-4 truck is a major accomplishment. But Opal Lee has taken much greater strides than this, with no plans to sit anytime soon.
"We don't have to sit around and wait for the Lord to come for us," Lee told CBS News. "In fact, he's going to have to catch me."
Opal is a retired teacher and lifelong community activist in Fort Worth, Texas. She's mostly known for her successful campaign to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. But what is lesser known is how that fire in her belly came to be.
In 1939, when Lee was 12, her family moved into a house that stood in an all-White neighborhood. They had lived at the home for just five days when a mob showed up.
"They tore it asunder," Lee said. "They set stuff on fire. They did despicable things."
The family moved away and moved on. They just wanted to forget the horror. Until eight decades later, when Lee decided the time had come to remember it.
So she looked up the address, and discovered the lot was still vacant and owned by the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Trinity Habit for Humanity CEO Gage Yager took Lee's call. He listened to her story, but then told her she could not "buy" the property.
"I said, 'Well, we won't sell it to you Opal, but we'll give it to you,'" Yager told CBS News. "There's no option for anything else."
Lee's response?
"When I get happy, I want to do a holy dance," Lee said. "But the kids say I'm twerking, so I don't ever do it."
And she still hadn't heard the best news. Gage offered to work with donors to put a house on her land for free. Plans are done and he hopes to have it ready for Lee to move in by her 99th birthday.
"I want you to know that I've got a God who has been so good to me," Lee said. "I think if I ask, he'd let me have a couple more years."
It has a sad and tragic beginning and simply the best conclusion!
I hope she is able to celebrate her 100th Birthday in that home!
I think its a good story as well, with a good outcome.
Sadly, my first thought was about the article’s orientation. Does every article have to be about race or sex?
Not necessarily. If it can say something about the horror that is the state of Texas, then maybe race and sex can be avoided.
This distinctly American virtue was encapsulated perfectly in 2020 by Condoleezza Rice - not a favorite around here - who schooled a loser at CBS carrying globalist water on this topic, effectively saying the George Floyd-fueled riots are indicative of American subhumanism :
Well, I’ve always thought that America’s greatest strength is that we are a country where you can come from humble circumstances and do great things, and where, despite our painful history, we’ve worked harder and harder every day, brick by brick, to build a more perfect union for all of us. And I would say to those, particularly in places like China and Russia and Iran, who may want to use this for propaganda, let’s not be absurd.
This is not Tiananmen Square where you’ve mowed down people who disagreed with the government. This is not the invasion of Crimea where you took land from your neighbor. This is not the Green Revolution in Iran where you killed people wantonly because they wouldn’t agree with the theocratic government.
Rice continued, “And I would even say to our friends abroad, in places like Europe, where I’m seeing demonstrations in support of what is happening here, thank you for your support, but please look in the mirror. Please ask yourself, in countries in Europe and countries all across the world, what are you doing about racial and ethnic inequality in your own circumstances? America has gotten better because we have been willing to confront our problems. And we’re going to confront our problems again. We’re confronting them now.
“But I really don’t need to be lectured by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping about peaceful protest when they have themselves used their own force just because people wanted to criticize the government. That is not what is happening here,” she added.
“racism” is little more than a liberal attack word. Liberals are the worst hypocrites alive, because actually, everyone is a racist.
Fine line on where your final destination will be determined.
So those “Pro=Palestinians” causing problems are okay?
Do you think they were driven from their home by a mob for some reason other than that they were black?
I am saying that I suspect the story would not have run if it didn’t have a racial aspect to it — current journalism standards.
Based upon when and where this awful event occurred, I’d say, no.
“But I really don’t need to be lectured by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping about peaceful protest when they have themselves used their own force just because people wanted to criticize the government. That is not what is happening here,” she added.
tell it to J6 protestors who have been on a no-bail hold for THREE YEARS !
If its from the MSM, you can be sure there is some spin, fluff, or lie within the story.
I stopped reading as soon S it said she was a huge driver for the Juneteenth holiday.
I’ll cover any bet that there were NOTHING but dim-0s in charge in the county. Chief of police, mayor, sheriff, commissioner, gubner etc.
I could do without Juneteenth, tho.
Those of us white people who are old enough to have actually seen the shamefully shabby way American-born black Christians were treated in towns where the Democrat “lawmen” let them get away with it (or even participated), can assure you that stories like this are welcome news. She received a blessing in her old age without grifting.
I didn’t realize block busting went back that far. I thought it was a tool of the 1950s and 60s.
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