Sisters,
I write this as a aging Black Man who is sympathetic to your cause. I know that I have not walked a mile in your heels, but believe me – I see and feel your pain.
This election cycle we have seen a marvelous evolution come to fruition in America. For the first time in our history we have seen a truly viable woman candidate run for the highest office in the land. One who presumably was the inevitable winner, with every condition favoring her victory. This after a national history of women’s legal and social submission to a patriarchal system, with its’ legacy of social and physical brutality and economic discrimination. A sister had a real chance to lead us all. How proud you must feel! How empowered! To have one of you stand tall in the halls of power and privilege would no doubt be a beacon for our daughters and proof of the ability and competence of all women. So I understand the disappointment and heartache that her apparent defeat causes among those who have invested so much emotional capital into her effort. The loss of heart, the sense of worthless struggle – the feeling almost of despair that follows on the heels of once again coming up short after a magnificent effort.
But I encourage you to rise above the emotional myopia caused by the personal pain of disappointment, to take another look at this country we love. The evolution IS on going. For the winner of this competition was not one of the many White Males who crossed the starting line – and who tradition and history would expect to cross the finish line first. No, this time the winner was a person of color, one of those who also inherits an historical legacy of exclusion and discrimination to match your own. For the first time, in the history of our country, one of the inheritors of our history of exclusion and discrimination has fully overcome our national past to stand before all of our fellow citizens as an equal, to be judged for who - not what he is. In truth his victory is your victory too.
For if you take just a minute to reflect on this historic race, you will realize that you/we have achieved everything we have fought and struggled for lo these many, many years. For our struggle, yours and mine, was in fact the same struggle as those of all of the disenfranchised and marginalized – be they indigenous people, immigrant, gay and lesbian, religious minority, women or people of color. That is the struggle to be recognized and judged on our merits, not on our color, gender or status. The struggle to have access to the opportunity to prepare for and to enter the race, then succeed or fail based solely on our merits. And for the first time in American history, a woman and a person of color entered the race for president of the United States with White men, and competed with them on fully equal terms. They overcame history and perception to finish first and second - well ahead of the field. Just think about that for a moment.
And the best part of it is that our history is still unfolding. As we go forward from here our future is limitless. If one of our sisters can compete on this level, and be judged on her merits to have finished so well in front of the field, we know the future win is not far away.
We live in amazing times my sisters, times I never thought I would live to see, but here we are. So while I realize losing hurts, I urge you to step back and realize that although our sister didn’t win MVP – you and she and we are all part of the team that has won the semi-final and is on their way to the big final. And our effort in that contest will change history for all of us, women and men, Black and White – and Brown, Red, and Yellow. For if he can, we can! Yes We Can!
Update -
I am overwhelmed by the response to my Saturday Morning musings... Thank you!
I too have evolved, over time - and learned a lot about our shared struggles and humanity. And I have taken to heart the lessons of one of my spiritual heros, Nelson Mandela, who did not let struggle or personal suffering blind him to the universal struggle for humanity and dignity. We are all connected - even when we don't think we are, or don't want to be... as I tried to share in this...
Earlier Dairy
Go well...