He had a dream

"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." Alas, I think we can say that the dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has at least been partially realized. Tomorrow, we inaugurate the first African-American President, an even that would not have been possible without the sacrifices of people like Dr. King and so many others, known and unknown. For this inauguration to happen on the heels of the day honoring Dr. King is most appropriate indeed, because it marks the progress we've made in the 40+ years since Dr. King's assassination. We still have a very long way to go, admittedly, but at least we are a different nation now, one that seems more open and more tolerant of people of different races. Racism still exists, probably always will, and that's a shame, because it's a stain upon our great nation that people still fester with hatred for those different from themselves. It's not as blatant as it was, but it's still there. Being white has always been associated with having privilege and being in the majority, and at times, it bothers me that I am descended from slave owners myself, and that at one time, my ancestors owned other people and considered them property. It bothers me that racial attitudes still persist, and that at times, blacks don't do much to help dissuade those attitudes. I'm not saying they all do, but some openly disdain learning and education in favor of life on the street. Rappers and athletes are lauded over learning, because they earn megabucks for entertaining us and are seen as the quick way out of the 'hood. But I suppose racial attitudes by whites are partially to blame because blacks have always had to be twice as good at anything to get ahead compared to whites. I can see where this could prove daunting to a black youth living in an inner city ghetto, so I suppose I ought not to blame kids entirely for looking up to rappers and athletes, but what's so wrong about looking up to, say, General Colin Powell or President-elect Barack Obama? These two men made it out of humble beginnings to the high powered world of politics and have made significant contributions to our country. I can only hope that tomorrow afternoon, when Barack Obama utters the words that make him our 44th President of the United States, that kids black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American and every other race will look to him as their exemplar of what someone can do who works and studies hard and gets to make it to the top by so doing.

A NEW HOPE

"There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America." These words inspired me the first time I heard them at the 2004 Democratic Convention, spoken by a then relatively unknown young State Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. I watched this strikingly handsome young man on the podium give a rousing speech that brought the audience to its feet and I knew that this man was our party's future, a beacon of hope for unity that we'd been seeking for almost 40 years, and here he was, a skinny guy with a funny name and big ears, but one hell of a speaker who inspired everyone who heard him that night. I knew that this was his entrée on to the national stage and that from that point on, he would be closely watched as a potential Presidential candidate for the 2008 election, despite his relative youth and inexperience. However, when he did throw his hat into the ring for the Presidential race in 2006, I worried that maybe it might be too soon, that the attempt at dethroning Hillary, who was seen as the inevitable front runner for the Democrats, would be a real long shot. He was still relatively unknown by a lot of people, a freshman Senator with only two years experience, and on top of it all, he was a person of color, and I wasn't sure that America was quite ready to go there yet, to elect an African American man as our next President. Sure, there was a time that people spoke of General Colin Powell being a candidate, and I am sure that he might even have done very well in a Presidential race, given his credentials and the fact that he's always been relatively well liked by a lot of people. But a part of me just wasn't sure that this was quite Obama's time, even though I'd read both of his books and loved them and found them inspiring. My problem with Hillary was the idea of her old political baggage from her husband's days as President. I was sure that the Republicans were just gunning to have her be the Democratic nominee so that they could rip her apart and destroy her, as they've always despised the Clintons anyway and tried once before to destroy them in a failed coup via an impeachment. But surprise upon surprise, Obama gained momentum month by month, and before long he and Hillary were duking it out in a bitter fight to the end, the eventual nomination as our Presidential candidate. I worried that this would irreparably divide the Democrats and cause the Republicans to win the White House, but again, another surprise happened when Hillary's supporters finally got over their bitterness in losing the nomination and Democrats came together in unity to put Obama over the top. And now, we stand on the cusp of history. Tomorrow at noon, Barack Hussein Obama II becomes our next President of the United States of America. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. must be looking down from heaven beaming proudly right now, because at least for the moment, his dream has been fulfilled at last.