Hello again and welcome to the great month of February that usually brings all sorts of celebrations and recognitions - large and small!  Everything from that little Groundhog fella - (Punxsutawney Phil ) who threatens to bring 6 weeks of all types of  "bad news weather" with his shadow business, to that Leap year stuff, to recognizing our first Prez - (G. Washington  and the 16th Chief Executive - ole Abe Lincoln  - the Great Emancipator - for  our annual Presidents Day recognition)!  And then there is the Fun stuff - the annual frolicking Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday  hoopla - to the time of "Roses and Candy" - Sweet-Hearts and Lovers... ahhh - Valentines Day!

And last, but certainly not least - and celebrated "literally every day of the Month of February - is of course, Black History Month!"  And in this Month's version of my editorial column  "If You See A Good Fight Get In It" I will point out some notable contributions  of four "Movers and Shakers" of the 60's Civil Rights Movement and Black History, who while they each were not ethnically a Black person, they still in their own way, greatly contributed to the advancement of Black People, and the uplift of all peoples during the Civil Rights era and in Black History!

The first individual Freedom Fighter is Dean Smith ( 1931 - 2015 ) -   the former North Carolina Head Basketball Coach icon.  "With the passing of North Carolina Head Basketball Coach Dean Smith, America lost not just a coaching legend, but a gentleman and a citizen" said President Obama recently.  When he retired, Dean Smith had won more games than any other college basketball coach in collegiate history!  He went to 11 Final Fours, won two national titles, and reared a generation of players who went on to do even better things elsewhere, including a young man named Michael Jordan; who later became "arguably" the best basketball player to ever lace up his sneakers!  But now with his death, Dean Smith will equally be remembered for his towering contributions to social progress that has also become legendary on Chapel Hill!  He was the first UNC Coach to offer a scholarship to a Black athlete ( Charlie Scott ).  In fact, Coach Smith would accompany Scott and later on his other Black players,  into restaurants and other public facilities, at a time in the 60's when Blacks were not welcome to dine or lodge there.  His stern attitude was "if my Black player (s) are not welcome in your establishment, then I won't dine or lodge here either!"  Racist taunts aimed at the UNC Black players did not deter Coach Smith at a time in America and certainly in the South, where it was common fare!  When asked why he took such a strong stance against Jim Crow racism, Smith responded " It's just the way that my parents raised me!"  The great legendary coach and devoted Civil Rights devotee, was presented with the Medal of Freedom by President Obama before his passing!

Viola Liuzzo - Viola Liuzzo was of Italian and Unitarian Faith background.  She was a dedicated Unitarian Universalist Civil Rights Activist from the State of Michigan.  In March 1965 Liuzzo, then a housewife and Mother of 5 with a history of local activism, heeded the call of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  and traveled from Detroit, Michigan to Selma, Alabama in the wake of Bloody Sunday, the attempt at marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  Liuzzo participated in the successful Selma to Montgomery marches and helped with coordination and logistics.  But while driving back from a trip shuttling fellow activists to the Montgomery airport, she was shot dead by members of the Ku Klux Klan.  She was 39 years old at the time of her death - the same age of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X at the time of their respective assassinations !  Viola Liuzzo's name is today inscribed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama -   she was also enshrined in the State of Michigan's Civil Rights Hall of Fame - and in the collective hearts of all true devotees of the American Civil Rights Movement!

Senator Robert F.  " Bobby" Kennedy - 1925 - 1968 -  was born in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts.   Since his early tenure into the political arena in the late 1950's there was always one thing or another that separated Bobby from his older Brother Jack ( J.F.K. ) who eventually was elected President of the United States.  And that was his more fervent belief that it was time to push harder for racial equality in the United States.  Especially in the Deep South!

Sometimes disagreeing with his overly cautious brother the President, on civil rights matters,  and also against a very un-sympathetic on race relations , but very powerful subordinate, F.B.I. Director. J.Edgar Hoover Bobby -as the then Attorney General, had his work to expand Human and Civil Rights cut out against him!   But unlike  his Brother, now the late President J.F.K., the now U.S. Senator and soon-to-be front runner for President of the United States, Bobby Kennedy made a strong civil rights agenda part of the linch pin of his main Presidential campaign.  Especially after winning with huge margins the primaries of such key battleground states of Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and South Carolina during the Presidential campaign of June 1968 .  and of course with the help of massive voter turn-out among Black voters in those aforementioned battle ground states! Evidently, powerful Black leaders did not forget that during the mostly violent struggle for education and voting rights in the early to mid-60's, it was mainly RFK as Attorney General, who vehemently pushed his (President Brother and later successor L.B.J. and  F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover, to use maximum federal force and pressure to protect the largely non-violent Civil Rights marchers and protestors that were principally led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   Robert Kennedy spoke endlessly about the urgent need to redistribute America's vast wealth to the poor and marginalized groups in America; as he felt that this economic shift of national resources would also achieve more racial harmony in the long run!  These and other bold moves that this young 42 year old Presidential aspirant advocated, was summed up in his constant citing of the great quote that he often used in speeches from the venerable George Bernard Shaw, who once said:  "You see things as they are and you say why;  I dream of things that never were; and I say why not!"

And yet there is another more profound (almost prophetic )  and almost "chillingly" vision given by the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy when he said just before his death in 1968 " Within 40 years after I have left this earth - I envision that a Black Man will be .... elected President of the United States!      

Eleanor Roosevelt - (Anna) Eleanor Roosevelt - was an American politician, diplomat and activist.  She was the longest -serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from March 1933 - to April 1945 during her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office.  Though widely respected in her later years, Eleanor was quite a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness, particularly her stance on racial issues.  Eleanor soon became an important connection for Franklin's administration to the African American population during the segregation era.  Despite the Presidents desire to placate Southern sentiment, Eleanor was vocal in her support of the African American civil rights movement.  After her inspections of the New Deal programs in Southern states, she concluded that the New Deal programs were discriminating against African Americans, who received a disproportionately small share of relief moneys.  Eleanor became one of the only voices in the Roosevelt White House insisting that benefits be equally extended to Americans of all races!

Eleanor also broke with precedent by inviting hundreds of African American guests to the White House.  And when the racist White House staff refused them entrance - Eleanor Roosevelt "personally" led them through the do