No matter what your party affiliation, today is an historic day in American history. Today I watched what I thought I would never see in my lifetime - I saw U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton former candidate for President of the U.S. - a woman, place the name of Barrack Obama-a black man- into nomination as President of the United States - the first African American to be nominated for President by a major political party in the history of our country.
Think about that for a minute. Only one hundred forty-three years ago the Civil War ended and our country began to heal and change. Human beings who had been held as chattel - snatched from their countries, their families, their homes, shoved onto ships chained to one another to sail in unthinkable conditions to what was supposed to be the "land of the free" and enslaved against their will by other human beings. Those courageous people, who worked without compensation, without freedom, without free will, are the ancestors who never dreamed that they would ever gain their freedom let alone see a descendant educated at Harvard, become a U.S. Senator and be placed into nomination for President of the United States.
I was raised in the South. I lived through the horrible times of segregation and the fights that many courageous people led to speak up for human rights - civil rights. That was only forty-six years ago. I remember signs on water fountains saying "white only", buildings with bathrooms marked "colored" and hotels and businesses that actually had signs that said "no actors, no dogs, no colored". I saw courageous people beaten by other Americans who thought they were superior and had more rights than other Americans. I saw people die on our streets in the South for what they believed in. And then I saw President Lyndon Johnson sign Civil Rights legislation into law. Ironically, today is Lyndon Johnson's 100th birthday!
I think of all those who came before us in history like Harriet Tubman, and W.E.B. Dubois and Martin Luther King and how they must be looking down on this historic day in disbelief. And yet maybe with relief, because they fought hard for what they believed in - and led each in their own way - to make way for the freedoms we all have today.
I can only imagine what African Americans must be feeling today. I know what I am feeling today. Pride in our country. Pride in our people. Proud to witness this historic day... historic for all Americans. We have finally put into practice what we have been fighting to achieve since the end of the Civil War - less than one hundred and fifty years ago. No longer is it merely rhetoric. No matter who you plan to vote for in November, today is an historic day. Today we as Americans have finally shown by our actions that we are truly able to honor the words of our forefathers who had a vision of "freedom for all" and a country that embraces all who live here. Yes, we have a long way to go, but today is a great start.
