January 20, 2009
Unbelievable (almost)
Let us enjoy every minute of this historic day. Yesterday I was asked by a young reporter if we thought a black man could be elected president when SNCC met in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1961--long before the reporter was born. Who knows, but at that time it was dangerous to even hold an integrated seminar in the deep south. Whites-only bathrooms and drinking fountains were constant reminders of our apartheid. Bob Moses headed our voter registration project and was pistol-whipped by a sheriff when he arrived with African-Americans to register to vote.
The question raised memories. A few years later, civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were murdered in Mississippi; we mourned the Birmingham church bombing that killed young children; we cheered and cried when LBJ said in a speech to the nation, "We shall overcome."
So, I don't think the prospect of a black president was not on our minds in 1961.
Let us sit back today, smile, shed a tear and applaud Barack and Michelle Obama. Congratulations. Yes we can!
post a letter about this blog »
I remember Lacey
Lacey was the African-American woman who for all intents and purposes raised me from age 3 to 18. She would have resisted the term African-American as she resisted the term black.
-Joan Downs | Madison, WI | January 20, 2009
I didn't think it could even happen in 2009. I thought it would happen but not in my lifetime. Good quote from rapper Z. "Rosa Parks sat so Martin could walk, Martin walked so Obama could run and Obama ran so we can fly."
-Kathleen Hart | Greendale, WI | January 20, 2009
The letter I wrote about Lacey was quoted briefly and thus missed the point I was trying to make. What happened to the rest of the letter? Is it the practice to quote someone's letter out of context? That seems contrary to the principles of Fighting Bob.
Disappointed.
-Joan Downs | Madison, WI | January 21, 2009
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