"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
Well, folks... it's been a long time coming.
I am an American, like President Elect Obama with one darker and one lighter parent. I have Black, Native American, French, German, Anglo and Jewish ancestors. I have relatives on both sides of the Civil War, World War One and two, and the Indian Wars. I would have to go back FOUR Generations to find anyone ethnically "pure". I am, absolutely, an all-American.
In 1968, I visited my grandmother in Gary, Indiana. Unlike New York City where I grew up, Gary was a CHECKERBOARD. The city was mapped out in hard and fast black and white blocks. And coming from an integrated neighborhood in Brooklyn, I saw nothing odd in wandering the neighborhood. Till I, at nine years old, inadvertently crossed the borders.
I had the surreal and confusing experience of being called a "nigger bastard" and a "honky motherfucker" inside the same hour, in my mothers' home town, at age 9, with the amusing beatdown to go with it, kind of resonates. No, it actually wasn't all that amusing. Some of the slightly older kids that I was playing with that very morning, beat the SHIT out of me, when I wandered back to my grandmother's block, having been minutes before been chased off a "white" block.
Then the following year, Dr. Martin Luther Kind was assassinated. And at ten years old, I finally began to understand, despite my parents efforts to shield Me from racial strife. There was nothing but love in our household.
I couldn't NOT be stoked about this election. Barak Obama is virtually the FIRST national leader to say ANYTHING intelligent about race in America in a long, long time... he really got my ATTENTION after the Philadelphia Speech (3/18/08) as being a LOT more than just another minority candidate playing to his group.
People, this is HISTORY.
Looking at the crowd of Supporters at the acceptance speech in Grant park i saw Black, White, Latino, Asian, young and old. I had chills as he spoke. I broke out the single-malt and toasted and prayed his success. America has judged Barak Obama on the strength of his character, and not the color of his skin.
Change.
Bring it.