"A Fast For A Just Cause"

For many non-Americans and perhaps even Americans, the words Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) are meaningless. Consequently, in order to fully appreciate Zoe Ann Nicholson's memoir, The Hungary Heart: A Woman's Fast For Justice, it is necessary to understand what this legislation is all about.

Suffragist Alice Paul in 1921 drafted the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and it had been introduced into the US Congress in 1923. The proposed law had 3 basic sections: Section 1- stated "that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United State or any state on account of sex": Section 2-stated-"the congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article": Section 3- stated- "this amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification":

The legislation seems simple enough and on face value it would appear that its passage would not be too difficult. However, such was not the case, and it was not until 1972, when the Congress of the USA finally passed it. However, it needed ratification endorsement by at least 38 states before it would become the law of the land. Furthermore, a deadline was placed on its ratification, June 30, 1982. There were thirty- five states that had ratified the legislation, leaving 3 states short of the required 38. One of these states was Illinois, where Nicholson's story and her titanic struggle transpired.

Nicholson was one of seven women, who assembled in the rotunda of the Illinois Statehouse in Springfield in May and June of 1982, and fasted only on water for 37 days. Their objective was to persuade the legislators and Americans that the equal-rights amendment must become part of the Constitution. Illinois was chosen because this state required a 3/5, rather than a majority for ratification.

In the words of the author, she was a "satyagrahi." or an advocate of the philosophy of non-violence resistance, as practiced by Mahatma Gandhi, who had forced an end to the British Rule. When asked by reporters why was she fasting, Nicholson explained that this is the first time where she was putting her body and heart in the same place with the same intensity, and where she was not doing something useless or meaningless.

Throughout the memoirs we sense frustration on the part of these seven women as to why they had not witnessed from others the same rage and hunger for justice as theirs. Nicholson wanted to know what was holding back these individuals from showing their repulsion of a constitution that does not explicitly state that all human beings are equal under the law? Perhaps, as the author points out, that a law cannot be legislated unless its "essence unfolds within the human heart."

Upon reflecting on Nicholson's memoir, I could not help reminding myself of the well-known saying of the famous Pharisee, Rabbi Hillel, who stated: "If I am for myself, who is for me? And if I am for myself only, what am I? And if not now, when." Perhaps, this best sums up the author's concentrated involvement of her mind and soul in a conscious awareness for a worthy cause- although, unfortunately, the outcome was not what she and the other six women had in mind when they first set out on their fasting venture.

No doubt, this book could not have been written so honestly without the author's emotional attachment to a cause that she probably would have given up her life.

The ERA has still not become the law of the land and the only incontestable right women have in the American Constitution is the right to vote. In the 108th Congress (2003-2004) the ERA had been introduced and these bills placed no deadline on the ratification process. Controversy and discussion still surrounds the issue and it is no small feat to predicate if or when the ERA will eventually be legislated into the Constitution.

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookpleasures.com
Posted February 28, 2005

Summary

Zoe Nicholson's The Hungry Heart is her intimate daily diary of her 1982 fast for the Equal Rights Amendment, including 50 photos. Joining with 6 women, traveling to Springfield, Illinois, living on water only; Zoe sat in the eye of the political storm and searched for spiritual insight. She wrote about it all from Phyllis Shlafly to Governor James Thompson, Mahatma Gandhi to Dick Gregory. Historical and inspiring, she writes from the heart with intimacy and humor.