Well said, UW. My parents were workers in Alabama in the civil rights movement so we were pretty much raised with the idea of "All shades of brown" ..can remember "Bull" Connor letting loose the dogs and have never let my children forget how far we had to come just so they could be born without us going to jail *or worse.*
I thought we'd made GREAT strides when Obama won the Democratic primary in Alabama, something I thought in my lifetime I'd never see.
But Tuesday night as the 1st of the results were coming in and he pulled into a slight lead, I let myself dare to hope that it might just be possible.
Suddenly RugDawg's dad was at our house, and while he's not a citizen he had gotten to witness his son being able to the be 1st one in his family to vote, ever and cast that vote for the NEXT President of the United States, a man who has similar parentage and would rally people from all ages, races, creeds, religious backgrounds to get out and vote.
It was very emotional, and more people in my neighborhood were coming outside..we ended up with a midnight BBQ and block party. Very community oriented and very spontaneous but very relieved that Obama was elected.
There is a group on Flickr that is having "
A Message To Obama" and some of them are really funny or light hearted..but what I noticed most are those who say, whatever sacrifice necessary to make this country go forward and those who say they didn't vote for him but are going to get behind him. I think my friend Deb said it best that for the first time in her 24 years of voting, she's able to say "He's MY President"
Let's hope that people who are deeply committed and in love will be able to express that love in whatever way they choose, despite gender, race or religion.
