A history lesson

Ever since the early morning hours of November 5, 2008, I have watched, listened to and read about events involving our president elect—Senator Barak Obama. Many times, my eyes fill with tears and my chest swells with pride to think about how far this nation has come. You could blame it on my being an old man, but it is more than than that.

To understand, you must know a little more about me. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma that was a “Jim Crow” town. No black persons lived in my town, they could not stay there overnight and they had a very difficult time finding a place to eat. Until I left home at the age of 18, I had only had one encounter with a black person—a railroad porter when I took a short train trip to Muskogee. He took me by the hands and swung me down off the train. When I got on the platform, I wiped by hands back and forth like I was trying to wipe something off. He said to me, “Don’t worry boy, it won’t rub off.”

At 18, I left home and joined the Navy. When we got to Kansas City, MO, I met my first black person that I would have any interaction with. He and several of us wanted to attend a movie. When we went to purchase tickets, the ticket agent would not sell us a ticket for this man. This was the first time I understood discrimination. I didn’t think discrimination existed in my hometown—it didn’t dawn on me that being a “Jim Crow” town was discriminatory. It’s odd how we simply ignore things when we don’t see it in action; i.e., I never saw anyone do anything outright that was be considered discriminatory because there was no one around to discriminate against!

Now, over 55 years later, I have a black son-in-law and two beautiful mixed race grandchildren. And I consider myself to NOT be a racist. I will admit that there have been times in my life when this was not always so, but being in the military and being an officer, exposed me to many people of many races. Seeing them in “real” life made me realize that the amount of melanin in one’s skin doesn’t affect who they are and what they are capable of doing, given the opportunity. I have seen people of many different races bleed and die as the result of war. Their blood, their pain, their “insides” are the same as everyone else’s.

And now we have a president elect who looks different than any other president we have ever had in this country. His beautiful wife and two beautiful daughters look different than any other First Lady or children who have lived in the White House. He has been reviled personally, his motives have been challenged, his religion and his citizenship have been questioned and his capability to handle the responsibilities of the presidency has been repeatedly demeaned.

But what has happened is that the people of our nation have chosen to trust this different looking man because he has offered us hope and the promise of change. He comes at a time when this nation is nearly overwhelmed. Our economy is in absolute chaos; our military is involved in two very unpopular wars, one of which may well have been started as the result of a leadership that mislead the American public. More than 4,700 young Americans have died and more than 30,000 have been wounded—many of them with injuries that will forever alter their lives. Finally, a large portion of the world’s population has lost faith in our nation as a world leader. We are spending a billion dollars a month on the wars and transferring uncountable billions of dollars to buy oil from nations that would have nothing to do with us if it weren’t for the oil they sell us.

It has been said that president elect Obama is facing times that are as bad as or maybe worse than those faced by Abraham Lincoln in 1861 or that Franklin D. Roosevelt faced when he took office in 1933. Many Americans believe he will rise to the occasion and I am among them.

On November 4, we saw history being made. We have stepped onto a new path and we are trusting this new man to lead us in the right direction. God bless him and God bless this nation.