History is Made
With a steady flow of super delegates coming in today, it became clear this evening that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee for President come November. Unless delegates change their mind come August, that's the way things will be.
To have a person of color heading a major party ticket is profound. I'm only 50, but it has been in my lifetime that we have seen this nation move out of segregation's grip. Brown vs. the Board of Education, which barred "separate but equal" education was decided just four years before I was born. The Voting Right's Act, guaranteeing the right to vote to Blacks, was passed while I was just a child. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated just months after my 10th birthday. Jim Crow reigned supreme in the South during my childhood, but race remained an issue across the nation. Racism is still present in our nation, and Obama's campaign has put a spotlight on that major issue. But whatever the case, we have seen history made. A man whose father came to the US as a student from Kenya, and whose mother was a Caucasian woman, born in Kansas, is our nominee. This is something our nation should be proud of -- whether or not one intends to vote for Barack Obama.
In a year when an African American man made history, a woman ran for President as well. After Super Tuesday's results made it clear that only 2 candidates had survived, we knew this would be history making, no matter who won. I've not been a big Hillary Clinton fan these many months, but her campaign is historic as well. Never before had a woman done so well, had energized women in this way. I think in many ways she is a flawed representative to carry this banner, but whatever the case she pushed on through thick and thin. Indeed, she has done very well of late.
But, we must stop to say: Congratulations to the one who has made history.
To have a person of color heading a major party ticket is profound. I'm only 50, but it has been in my lifetime that we have seen this nation move out of segregation's grip. Brown vs. the Board of Education, which barred "separate but equal" education was decided just four years before I was born. The Voting Right's Act, guaranteeing the right to vote to Blacks, was passed while I was just a child. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated just months after my 10th birthday. Jim Crow reigned supreme in the South during my childhood, but race remained an issue across the nation. Racism is still present in our nation, and Obama's campaign has put a spotlight on that major issue. But whatever the case, we have seen history made. A man whose father came to the US as a student from Kenya, and whose mother was a Caucasian woman, born in Kansas, is our nominee. This is something our nation should be proud of -- whether or not one intends to vote for Barack Obama.
In a year when an African American man made history, a woman ran for President as well. After Super Tuesday's results made it clear that only 2 candidates had survived, we knew this would be history making, no matter who won. I've not been a big Hillary Clinton fan these many months, but her campaign is historic as well. Never before had a woman done so well, had energized women in this way. I think in many ways she is a flawed representative to carry this banner, but whatever the case she pushed on through thick and thin. Indeed, she has done very well of late.
But, we must stop to say: Congratulations to the one who has made history.
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