This won't be a long diary and if the background information bores anyone then it may have served a medical purpose in sedating someone who needs it and I am just being a good practicioner (I'm an RN). I saw today proudly history being made for my family and after pondering this event for the course of the morning I realized the diversity within my family mirrored probably thousands of historical moments in many families and I realized this is so kewl.
First though that lil boring background after the fold.
I am a 54 year old not so traditional Caucasian/Native American. I had the unique privilege of being raised in a progressive household and spending the first seven and a half years of my life being born in Europe and living there. One of my more vivid memories was our military apartment in Germany on base in a corner spot proudly displaying a JFK poster for President in 1960. What I wasn't aware of until I moved back to the States was what promise that poster held. The military, for all its faults had done one thing very right and ahead of it's time. It had integrated and so all of us living on base played together black, white, or whatever culture these American families were. We were neighbors, friends, and companions during a scary time (the Red Scar) watching as the infamous Iron Curtain was built and America was airlifting supplies to Berlin. We then came back to the good ole USA and oh what a shock that was.
My father who had switched from being in the Army to the Air Force was assigned to Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter South Carolina and we arrived there in late 1962. I remember my father had driven a detour route from wherever we landed through Kansas where his family lived and taking time to go to Yellow Stone National Park and at least one night sharing the pup tent he and I slept in with one of the native bears (we hastily made it to the Rambler station wagon which was very crowed that night). As we drove into South Carolina, I got my first cultural shock stopping at a little restaurant and seeing for the first time a "whites only" bathroom and water fountain, and then the "colored only" facilities outside in the back. When I asked my father about this his reply was a "ssshhh" as little boys don't always control the volume of their voices, and later I learned that asking that question there was dangerous no matter whom you might be. Later he told me in the car with a great deal of disgust about segregation and Jim Crow. In my two years in South Carolina I learned some hard lessons about racial hatred and intolerance. My parents, much to their credit not quite openly but still whole heartedly gave support to the NAACP financially and in 1964 I saw and heard Lyndon Johnson speak openly in South Carolina his visions for equality.
At the age of 16 I dropped out of school and with the help of my father enlisted in the Army. I turned 18 in Phnom Thram Vietnam and cast an absentee ballot for McCarthy in his 1972 bid to oust Nixon. Needless to say it appeared my vote then was in the minority. In 1976 while finishing my second year in Community College I joined with my parents and actively worked for Jimmy Carter. I had a chance to meet him briefly and one of my most cherished bits of memorabilia is an invitation to his inaugural ball.
Fast forwarding through time I met my wife and married her in 2000. The eight and a half years we have been together have been the best years of my life. What made today for us so historic was my wife who became a citizen (she's a native of Peru) in 2006 and voted in that congressional race cast her first ballot for a Presidential candidate and a winner at that, Barack Obama. My step son Jaime, now 19 cast his first vote ever for this same man. New immigrants so to speak having a chance to be a part of history. I voted early last Thursday and cast my vote for the next President, Barack Obama as well, and in so doing saw a right that went a long way in part to undo some of the wrongs this country has done in the past. I have a seven year old daughter who hopefully by the time she grows up will live in a country where men and women will have equal opportunity to be judged solely on their merits and not by race, creed, sex or sexual orientation (we still need to work on that folks).
Those close to me know my medical history and I have been told the only reason I'm around today is that heaven doesn’t want me, and hell's afraid I'll take over. Whatever the reason I am damn glad to be alive and part of this great day and time in the history of our country. So from someone who has always kept the faith, and an early bird for this chant and slogan, always believe people that "YES WE CAN!"