Tuesday, January 20, 2009
On This Day
A few memories have popped to the surface today:
I was embarassed when our cocker-spaniel would consistently bark at a black person.
An evening, when my parents were out to dinner, when I turned on all the lights in the house and hid under the coffee table because the TV was reporting that blacks were marching into white neighborhoods and rioting.
A Thanksgiving dinner when I was mad because my grandparent's black maid, Murphy, had to eat her Thanksgiving dinner alone in the kitchen.
"Whites Only" signs above water fountains.
Being horrified watching news reports of blacks being beaten by police and sprayed by the forceful water from fire trucks.
The first two black students to be allowed to go to my high school.
The first black family to move into our neighborhood - and the stir it caused.
The only black student my freshman year in college.
I remember coming to understand that the way things were was wrong, and believing that it just couldn't stay that way. That, ultimately, people had to be better than that.
These thoughts are swimming in my head as I try to put today's Presidential inauguration in perspective.
Earlier today I got a little frustrated. There are those who aren't pleased that Barack Obama is now our president and, with the ability to publicly voice one's opinion no further away than a keyboard, are very vocal via forums such as Twitter and Facebook.
As my memories of a time of egregious inequality, hatred, and fear bubbled to the surface, I became increasingly annoyed by those who do not seem to be able to set cynicism aside for a moment - just a relatively tiny moment - and allow this historic day to sink in.
I told them to shut-the-fuck up.
They didn't.
I won't hold it against them. After all, we have the right to express opinion in this country - along with the right to disagree. I can't help but observe, though, those who are being so negatively vocal today were born and have come of age in a time when the signs above the water fountains are no longer there; their schoolmates were a salad of different races and cultures; and Martin Luther King, Jr. means an extra day off work.
They are fortunate, indeed.
Will President Barack Hussein Obama be the leader our country so desperately needs right now? There is time to debate that - another day than today. On this day, I choose to be idealistic and hopeful. To let the weight of this historic moment sink in.
Tomorrow - we get to work.
I was embarassed when our cocker-spaniel would consistently bark at a black person.
An evening, when my parents were out to dinner, when I turned on all the lights in the house and hid under the coffee table because the TV was reporting that blacks were marching into white neighborhoods and rioting.
A Thanksgiving dinner when I was mad because my grandparent's black maid, Murphy, had to eat her Thanksgiving dinner alone in the kitchen.
"Whites Only" signs above water fountains.
Being horrified watching news reports of blacks being beaten by police and sprayed by the forceful water from fire trucks.
The first two black students to be allowed to go to my high school.
The first black family to move into our neighborhood - and the stir it caused.
The only black student my freshman year in college.
I remember coming to understand that the way things were was wrong, and believing that it just couldn't stay that way. That, ultimately, people had to be better than that.
These thoughts are swimming in my head as I try to put today's Presidential inauguration in perspective.
Earlier today I got a little frustrated. There are those who aren't pleased that Barack Obama is now our president and, with the ability to publicly voice one's opinion no further away than a keyboard, are very vocal via forums such as Twitter and Facebook.
As my memories of a time of egregious inequality, hatred, and fear bubbled to the surface, I became increasingly annoyed by those who do not seem to be able to set cynicism aside for a moment - just a relatively tiny moment - and allow this historic day to sink in.
I told them to shut-the-fuck up.
They didn't.
I won't hold it against them. After all, we have the right to express opinion in this country - along with the right to disagree. I can't help but observe, though, those who are being so negatively vocal today were born and have come of age in a time when the signs above the water fountains are no longer there; their schoolmates were a salad of different races and cultures; and Martin Luther King, Jr. means an extra day off work.
They are fortunate, indeed.
Will President Barack Hussein Obama be the leader our country so desperately needs right now? There is time to debate that - another day than today. On this day, I choose to be idealistic and hopeful. To let the weight of this historic moment sink in.
Tomorrow - we get to work.
Labels: Obama
Posted at 1:41 PM | |
