Lothlorien
Active Member
I am reposting Mutt's original post. It was originally moved to stop this from getting political. This is a reminder that this discussion is about the strides our country has made over the last 100+ years and in no way to represent anything political. Please do not tell us who you are voting for in this election or why and please DO NOT KNOCK any candidates. Thanks....Loth
I just watched on TV to see Barack Obama become the first black candidate for President of the United States. Whether you are black or white, whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, whether you will vote for Obama or McCain, this is, for all of us who are citizens of the US, a historic event. I am older than a lot of you on this board. I remember the Jim Crow laws. I remember when nobody questioned "separate but equal." I remember reading about lynchings in the south. I remember my grandparents calling their black neighors "darkies." I remember when the Ku Klux Clan operated in my area. I remember Martin Luther King Jr. giving his speeches. I remember participating in sit-ins for racial equality in the late 1960s as a college student. I remember being in Omaha during the race riots of the 1960s and being hidden (me, a white girl) in my black girl friend's basement. I really never thought I'd see this in my lifetime. I think it is long past due. I know that there will be what I hope is a small minority who will refuse to vote for a black candidate because he is black rather than because of his stands on the issues but I am proud to see us come to the point where we can have a black candidate from one of the two major political parties. Whoever eventually wins this election (and I'm not telling you who I'm voting for), I think it is a day we should all be proud of.