Ode to Our Viola

[pamela]

10. I was so happy to see your thread title.

I'm kind of obsessed with Viola Liuzzo-have been for years. I follow her daughters Penny and Mary on Facebook and Twitter. It's really sad how their lives were destroyed by her murder and by the campaign to defame her.

Did you know they sued the government for the what J. Edgar did to their mother? (They lost.) There is a pretty good documentary about all of this called "Home Of The Brave" if anyone is interested.

The 2016 election reawakened my desire to get this story out there. I was really struck by how every smear stuck to Hillary like glue but rolled right off Trump. It just reminded me of Viola because the smears against her were so ridiculous but they stuck. She should be a household name but I am always shocked at how little we hear about her and I believe that is largely because she was smeared so badly. Men in the Civil Rights movement were also smeared but it never really stuck like it did with Viola.

She was an amazing woman-very ahead of her time. Even before Selma she had a history of standing up for social justice and fighting for the oppressed.