I realize that I have an, eh-hem, mixed crowd here, politically at least, and so I probably should move on from the amazing fact of the amazing President Barack Obama (tears), but I can't. I just can't. Right up until Tuesday morning when he walked out of the Capitol onto that stage, I thought I was going to wake up and find that it had all been a wonderful dream and that some old white guy had stolen the election away.
Here's the thing about that moment, when he walked out there. The reason that it meant so much to me was that the two Marines standing on each side of the doorway were black. Did anyone else notice that? And I watched them saluting President Obama, and I felt the weight of 233 years of everyone, whatever their race, always saluting some white guy. I know that some (white) people will say that it doesn't matter, as long as the president is a good guy and has the right politics (whatever you think those are; let's agree to disagree).
But the fact is that it DOES matter. It does matter because it has ALWAYS, up until Tuesday, been a white guy. It hasn't been a white guy one time and a Hispanic woman another time and an Asian guy another time and a black woman another time. It has always, always been a white guy, and the rest of us have always had to salute him, literally or figuratively. And for members of the Armed Forces, who are disproportionately not white, and who are commanded by the president, who has always been white, it matters even more.
Given that I am white myself, I know that I can't feel the fullness of what this means for people of color in this country, particularly African-Americans, but I know that it matters, and that it is the reason why I wept rather than lept and screamed at the election and at the inauguration of President Obama. I have spent 13 years of my life living in places where the leaders are black, but most black Americans have not. This is the first time.
Every person who walked through that door, between those two black Marines, was white. Until President Obama. You may disagree with his politics and mine, but you can't tell me that the race of our new President doesn't matter or that you "don't see race." It matters, and it changes everything, for the better.
Here's the thing about that moment, when he walked out there. The reason that it meant so much to me was that the two Marines standing on each side of the doorway were black. Did anyone else notice that? And I watched them saluting President Obama, and I felt the weight of 233 years of everyone, whatever their race, always saluting some white guy. I know that some (white) people will say that it doesn't matter, as long as the president is a good guy and has the right politics (whatever you think those are; let's agree to disagree).
But the fact is that it DOES matter. It does matter because it has ALWAYS, up until Tuesday, been a white guy. It hasn't been a white guy one time and a Hispanic woman another time and an Asian guy another time and a black woman another time. It has always, always been a white guy, and the rest of us have always had to salute him, literally or figuratively. And for members of the Armed Forces, who are disproportionately not white, and who are commanded by the president, who has always been white, it matters even more.
Given that I am white myself, I know that I can't feel the fullness of what this means for people of color in this country, particularly African-Americans, but I know that it matters, and that it is the reason why I wept rather than lept and screamed at the election and at the inauguration of President Obama. I have spent 13 years of my life living in places where the leaders are black, but most black Americans have not. This is the first time.
Every person who walked through that door, between those two black Marines, was white. Until President Obama. You may disagree with his politics and mine, but you can't tell me that the race of our new President doesn't matter or that you "don't see race." It matters, and it changes everything, for the better.
1 comment:
You take the words right out of my head.
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