Thank You, America

[Useless]

*This began as a short post for the morning thread. It wasn't meant to be an essay, but I couldn't stop.

I'm having difficulty coming down from the election. The corner this nation has turned is so momentous, I simply can't get it off my mind. While standing outside of my son's school these past couple of afternoons, waiting for the kids to be dismissed, I wonder if the other parents standing there are thinking the same things that I'm thinking, or are they pondering their errands or the upcoming holidays? Have they moved on, is it just another day for them, have they even taken a moment to understand the significance of it all?

Tuesday night, while watching MSNBC's election coverage, I sat on the couch discussing segregation and the civil rights movement with my 13 year-old daughter and 9 year-old son. I desperately needed them to know what the possible election of Barack Obama stood for other than the end of the Bush Era and slow draw-down of the war in Iraq. They needed to know that he wouldn't be just another president, whether his policies worked or not; that even if this young man was a total flop as the leader of the free world, his term in office would be a great achievement for America.

As a parent, I had made the conscious decision to not use racial slurs in front of my children, no matter how angry I got in traffic, which is when those tendencies seem to kick-in for me. (You see, I'm not claiming to be completely without racist thoughts. I acknowledge them and I know that they are wrong and I don't allow such underlying impulses to rule me.) I've always wanted to spare my children the racial bias I was raised with.

My parents were/are pretty typical Upstate New York racists. My mother's soft brand of racism is peculiar to me. I've never heard her say anything derogatory about another race and I assume that she feels that we are all equal, but at the same time, she didn't want to offend, I suppose, the racists around her. When I was in high school, she said to me, "I know you like black girls, but it would be better if you don't date one because a lot of people don't like that." (I took that as a warning for my future since there was only one black girl in my high school and she was two grades ahead of me. The black girls I had crushes on were all on tv.) My father, on the other hand, seemed to be fond of the word 'nigger,' which I never understood since we lived where there were so few blacks. I'd always admonish him for it and he'd always reply with something like, "you'll learn someday." However, if he met a black person and spoke with them, suddenly that individual was an exception to his rule, someone he'd never again refer to as a nigger. (It may have been this glaring inconsistency that forced me to think about race and racism rather than following the path that I was presented.)

During the presidential primaries, my father, the life-long Republican was, of course, backing McCain. When I spoke of Obama, he'd tell me that I was dreaming and that the U.S. wasn't ready for a black president. But then he watched the Democratic National Convention. He listened to Barack Obama's speech. The very next day, my father, the Republican, the racist, was backing Obama. He was excited about Obama. And on this past Tuesday, both of my parents voted for Obama.

Telling my kids about Whites-Only water fountains, bathrooms, segregated schools, seating on buses, I could see their astonishment. I remember being appalled by it when I learned about it in school, and I was learning about it within a decade after it ended. I could tell that it sounded like a world away to them - and I'm glad. Children are born with an amazing amount emotional intelligence and a strong sense of justice. For them to learn about segregation and the suffering it caused, and to respond with, "that's crazy," gives me a great amount of joy.

Though my son had fallen asleep by the time Barack Obama was declared the victor, my daughter was still by my side. I like to think, due to our conversation, that she had a better understanding of the emotions being expressed by the crowds of students and adults whom we saw dancing, cheering and crying on tv that night, that she understood it was not only a celebration of our first black president, but an acknowledgment of all of those who fought so hard, who were beaten for daring to protest a great injustice, and a remembrance of those who died dreaming of equality in the United States.

The majority of Americans tore down a massive racial barrier that night, and I'm proud to be one of them.

[J. Falcon - ACW]

Excellent post. I'm sure a lot of Americans can relate to what you are saying, and I'm sure there were many people with parents/friends/relatives of the opposite party who "switched over" once it became abundantly clear that Obama was the better choice. IMO, this was during the primaries.

Thank You American Indeed!

[Cleo]

A truly excellent post!

I'm walking out the door to go to the gym. Hopefully I wont break out in tears again like I did Monday whilst on the treadmill reading the closed captioning of all the truly great news about Obama and the end of the Bush regime.

(I just wish my that my happiness wasn't tempered by what has happened with equal rights for gays)

[sue-fl]

Usless thank-you for that post is was wonderful

I was lucky enough to be raised by parent, that were the kind of parents that you are. Racism was not tolerated in my house growing up, and I raised my kids the same way. After all kids don't see color, they are taught racism by truly ignorant parents.

Now that President Obama (still makes me smile when I say that) is about to take office things hopefully will change. As you said so many doors have been broken down and I'm also proud to be a part of it!

We have always said and heard that we all need to come together and make this world a better place. There has never been a better time to put our words into action than now.

[Useless]

Originally Posted by Cleo

(I just wish my that my happiness wasn't tempered by what has happened with equal rights for gays)

It is a shame that such an important issue is being over-shadowed by other political events right now - or even ignored - by the major media outlets. The imMoral Majority doesn't want people to think of it as what it is: an issue of civil rights. What's odd to me is that I know some fairly liberal-thinking sane-seeming people who are against gay marriage and civil unions. Not vehemently so, but their initial reaction is against them even though they don't think of themselves as anti-gay. I assume this reaction is due to the lack of critical thinking. They've heard sound bites and that's what stays with them. When you ask them why, they don't seem to have any deeper response than "marriage has always been between a man and a woman." If you say "so?" to them, they have nothing further to base their opinion on. They simply haven't thought about it.

[Bill]

A-freakin-men, dude.

I'm hoping the backlash agaisnt gay equality will be reversed soon.

The president-elect is inheriting a huge pile of shit, so fingers crossed.

[Cleo]

I just would like to see equal rights for all two consenting adults in a union. I don't really care what the unions are called, just make them all equal.

Obama getting elected proves that democracy works. Equal rights for all will happen.

[docholly]

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.

[stuveltje]

thats a great post,
i am realy meaning that, btw i didnt know the racist thing was that bad in usa, here in holland, we have marocs and turkish in our goverments, am i a racist, probably because i nag about every person who wont go with the dutch rules and dont wanna work, i also mean the dutchies, i grew up with the words heay dont come home with a colored guy.....then when i got the age of 15 i saw my dad dealed with colored guys so i asked, why you tell me not to go with colored guys while you hang out with them? he said i dont mind if the guy is colored or white, but i do care the guy has respect and want to work and has a job, now with that i agree, i tell my daughter dont come home with some not working or not speaking dutch guy....am i a racist...yes you can say i am, but with my saying i also mean dutchies, my daughter dont have to come home with a white or colored guy with no fucking job and all or dont speak dutch (believe me even the white people speak a certain dialect because they grow up in a country with different speaking language people it will be a mix of dutch turkish or dutch marocs), i dont buy that, if the guya has a job and speak the dutch lanuage i dont have a problem with it, no matter what color, still we in holland deal better with colored people then usa, they have the same rights, thats why i didnt understand why all got happy because usa has a black president...wouldnt bin any difference here( we have colored people in our goverment who rule this country), they all have the same rights, but after reading the postings in this thread i do understand better the usa thing. And Cleo here they say gays are accepted, but the news show that gays are still different, it sucks,we have the law but still people get hit because they are gay, some famouse guy here who is gay, has a gay model friend, the gay model friend lost his contract as a model with some company because he is fucking gay, thats insane even in holland, because here the law say "gays are accepted and you know all gays even can get married here"....the difference will be always around

Ps and our goverment is thinking of to close all the coffee shops down, means for all foreign people, no drugs in holland to get at all

[RedCherry]

Great post UW!

I had a father who was racist, although he was very careful not to show it to us kids, and I appreciated that. I grew up in a small town that was mostly white, although on my block we had quite a cosmopolitan mix for a 1 block dead end street, and had 4 different nationalities represented.

And I'd tell you the races, but I spelled them so bad, even spellcheck couldn't figure out what I was saying, lol.

At 18, I moved to Hawaii, and got to experience racism aimed at me first hand. My skin was too light, and I couldn't speak Japanese. There were restaurants that took their time waiting on me, jobs that although it wasn't said "you have to be Asian to get this job" there was still no way I'd get it.

Yet I saw the opposite too. I saw people embrace me like family and welcome me in too and show me the true "aloha" spirit.

18 years of experiencing that to a varying degrees made me really appreciate what it is like to be a minority. I graduated from the University of Hawaii, and I had many a class where I was the only white person, and sometimes the only woman and only white person, in the class.

So Obama being elected meant a lot to me too. See it isn't always "people of color" that are discriminated against, or in the minority. He bridges a big gap. I saw people standing in that crowd when he said his acceptance speech. Black, white, brown all together, smiling, laughing crying together. That really really touched me. I was proud of our country that we could get to that point. Like you, I keep thinking about it.

And the fact that we are almost the same age (He is 15 days older I think) it made me feel like we are FINALLY passing the torch on to my generation and younger. Its time the old farts that have been running washington retired, and let the younger generation take over.

And when last night, seeing him stand up with a TEAM of experts and talk about the economy. Not just "oh I know everything I'm the president" type of leadership we have had for 8 years, that made me so proud. Here is a man that is a true leader. He is still going to have a TEAM obama.

Like you, I could go on and on. I have watched this election more thant I ever have in my life up to this point. I felt like this was the most important one, if he didn't make it, I'd move out of the country important.

Anyways I'm really tired, and out of words.

[LD]

I'm glad I lived long enough to see this. Of course I voted for Obama because he was the better candidate. I don't care if he's white, black, or purple...I like his economic proposals, and he's very smart. As a constitutional scholar I think he will pick some excellent supreme court justices which will ultimately bode well for the gay rights issue.

I'm very disappointed in some of my fellow Americans on the extreme right wing side of things. Freerepublic has turned into a very, very nasty place and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are still playing the rev Wright video and talking about Ayers. I guess with any social progress there will always be knuckledraggers.

But we've made progress. I feel good about my country for a change.

And, on a lighter note, here's an article from The Onion...

http://www.theonion.com/content/news..._given_nations