SoonerBlue

As the Iranian government squashes the uprising againt their fraudulent election, I would like to comment on a remarkable thing that happened when Iranians first took to the streets - the women stood at the leading edge of the demonstrations and were just as boldly defiant as the men.

Their voices were certainly the loudest as they fought fiercely side by side with the men...withstanding as many blows from the baton-wielding police. I saw one woman in a green scarf lean against a building after being hit in the stomach, maybe to get her breath, because a minute later she ran back into the fray.

It brought tears to my eyes.

I saw a tall woman running through the street throwing rocks, encouraging the men behind her to plow into a group of shiny-shirted Basij militia.

And we can't forget the most haunting image - a young woman named Neda, blood pouring from her mouth and nose minutes after her fatal shooting, her life slipping away in her grieving father's arms.

Before the Iranian government cut the communication lines and threw the press out, when women, young and old were interviewed, you could see the anger smoldering in their eyes. One was asked if she was scared...she said yes, scared that all the blood shed for this cause would be wasted. Another woman yelled through tears of indignation - "We are all so angry. Will they kill us all?"

Iranian women have to live in a backward, male-dominated Islamic society which believes that controlling women and keeping them in their place "protects" them. What a transparent load of crap.

And last week millions of Iranian women rose up and called it just that...saying "enough is enough." It was a reminder that during my lifetime black Americans were treated much the same way Islamic women are treated to this day in conservative Muslim countries.

It reminds me of the bloody civil rights marches in this country in the 60's. When blacks rose up and protested being treated like second class citizens, the southerners said the same thing about them that the Islamic extremists are saying about Iranian women - they're "stepping out of line"...they "don't know their place"... and "they weren't intended to be equals."

Well, I say to Iranian women - You go girls! Show those Mullahs exactly why they've worked so hard for a thousand years to keep you under cover - literally.

I have to share the following as an example of how brave these women are. One of the most touching posts that made the rounds says it all, via Andrew Sullivan (who has done some excellent blogging about the Iranian uprising).