Document 65: "Speech by Commissioner Addie Wyatt, Closing Plenary Session," in National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, The Spirit of Houston: The First National Women's Conference (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978), pp. 231.

Addie Wyatt. From The Spirit of Houston: The First National Women's Conference, p. 249.

p. 231

SPEECH BY COMMISSIONER ADDIE WYATT

CLOSING PLENARY SESSION
NOVEMBER 21, 1977

   "Sisters, sometimes I wish my eyes hadn't been opened. Sometimes I wish I could no longer see all of the pain, the hurt and the longing of my sisters and me as we try to be free.

   "Sometimes I wish my eyes hadn't been opened just for an hour; how sweet it would be not to be struggling, not to be striving, but just completely secure in our slavery.

   "But now that I have seen with my eyes, I can't close them because deep inside me somewhere and somehow I will still know the road that my sisters and I have to travel. My heart would say yes and my feet would say no.

   "Sometimes I wish my eyes hadn't been opened, but now that they have I am determined to see that somehow my sisters and I will be this day the free people we were created to be."

   I want to thank Carol Ederly for those beautiful words penned in her poem, "Sometimes I Wish My Eyes Hadn't Been Opened," because I think it so very well expresses the sentiment of so many of us who have been involved in this struggle and other struggles of this kind for so many years.

   We have arrived here this morning. I hope sincerely, for the intent of doing what is necessary to bridge the gap between the promise and the fulfillment of freedom, equality and the fullest opportunities possible for all women in America and women in the world.

   So on that basis, on those bases we greet you and we ask God's blessings upon all of our efforts today.

   It is my hope and my desire that we will meet here today, realizing that most people fall into at least three major categories: namely, there are some people who go through life watching things happen; they just watch.

   There are some people who go through life just wondering what is happening.

   Then there are some people who go through life making things happen.

   I am proud this morning to be among so many of you who are very capable of making things happen, and especially our Plan of Action as we rededicate and recommit ourselves to move American women forward.

   I want to commend you for the manner in which you conducted yourselves yesterday under the most strenuous circumstances.

   We met, we debated, we agreed, we disagreed, we acted and some reacted, but still we remained intact and I have yet to see an assembly as large as this that can conduct themselves in the manner that you, my sisters, conducted yourselves yesterday.

   I want you to take time to shake hands with your sister next to you to congratulate her as you congratulate yourselves. If there is a brother next to you, shake his hand. Wasn't that wonderful? It gives you a good feeling to be able to shake hands with a sister or a brother.

   

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