I have been recording episodes of Designing Women since they began airing on Antenna TV. I recently watched a two-part episode entiled "The First Day of the Last Decade of the Twentieth-Century" and parts one and two both originally aired January 1, 1990. Part one ended with Julia, Suzanne, Mary Jo, Anthony, Bernice and Anthony's girlfriend Vanessa counting down and then celebrating the New Year in the hospital waiting for Charlene to give birth.
During Part two, Julia introduced Suzanne, Mary Jo, Anthony, Bernice and Anthony's girlfriend Vanessa to Miss Minnie Bell Ward, an African-American woman who was 103 years old, having been born in 1887. The following is what Miss Minnie said:
"Oh, I'm just a thread, a little thread in the tapestry, but I had a good time. Everybody has troubles, and as the saying goes: ain't nobody nowhere living no dream life. I thought as I got older, the bold outlines of truth would be revealed to me, but it hasn't happened. When I was young, I was in such a hurry, and now I've been here a hundred years. And, it seems like only yesterday I held my babies in my arms. I'm glad to be going home, its been a long time since I've seen my family. And I wish for all of you all the love and happiness I had in my life. And I hope the world keeps going toward freedom. And I hope that people everywhere can learn to live together in peace. As my papa used to say, 'We ain't what we should be, we ain't what we gonna be, but at least we ain't what we was.'"
After she finished speaking, Miss Minnie rested her head on the pillow, closed her eyes and passed away and I wept. The tears had been falling from my eyes as Miss Minnie spoke, but after her passing I wept.
I did not weep for Miss Minnie. I wept for my country. I wept because on January 1, 1990, Miss Minnie spoke about her "hope the world keeps going toward freedom" and her "hope that people everywhere can learn to live together in peace." I wept because her "papa used to say 'we ain't what we should be, we ain't what we're gonna be, but at least we ain't what we was.'" I wept because since 2015 our country has taken so many steps backward that "we are what we was" and "what we was" is not something of which we should be proud.
