'I'll get back to you.' (legacies of Arthur Ashe and Thurgood Marshall) (Editorial)When mighty warriors fall, it's not enough to merely mourn their passing. To truly honor them, we must make a personal commitment to battle all the harder until their replacements arrive - or until we earn the honor of carrying on the mantle ourselves. We must perpetuate the legacies of our heros by adopting their worthy causes and admirable virtues in our own lives. This tenet rings especially true with the recent passing of two great American heroes: Arthur R. Ashe Jr. and Thurgood Marshall For people and institutions etc. named after Thurgood Marshall, see . Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. . The last time I spoke with Arthur was just three days before his death, when we were honored with Black History Maker Awards by Associated Black Charities (ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. ). But more memorable than our last meeting was hearing Arthur's voice on the answering machine when I called to offer condolences to his wife, Jean - the day after he died of AIDS-related pneumonia: "I can't talk to you right now, but if you'll leave a message, I'll get back to you." The message is not unusual; the man who left it was. When Arthur said he'd get back to you, he meant it - even after he contracted the deadly AIDS virus AIDS virus n. See HIV. . During our more than 20 years of friendship, Arthur remained an unwavering fighter for equal opportunity for black athletes, against racial injustice in America, South Africa South Africa, Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. and Haiti, and finally, against ignorance in the battle against AIDS. He approached these challenges in the same way he became an all-time tennis champion - with determination, focused intellect and no small amount of grace under pressure. Marshall - who was also honored, posthumously, by ABC that evening - reflected those qualities as well. As a lawyer for the NAACP NAACP in full National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Oldest and largest U.S. civil rights organization. It was founded in 1909 to secure political, educational, social, and economic equality for African Americans; W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Legal Defense Fund, Marshall was a chief architect of the destruction of the separate-but-equal doctrine that was the fulcrum fulcrum: see lever. of American apartheid. When he was named to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon Johnson, he became a champion of individual rights for all Americans. When asked whether AIDS was the toughest thing he'd ever faced, Ashe replied: "No, racism is. Nothing has been more difficult than dealing with being black in America." And when a recently retired Justice Marshall Justice Marshall:
It's not over. The legacy of Ashe and Marshall will "get back to us" - and we must be ready to answer when it calls. |
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