Beyond Our Racist Past

Yesterday I was teasing my conservative friends posting Barack Obama 2008 campaign pictures on their myspace comment boards and bulletins later to hear Obama swept Iowa.

My mom came upstairs to share the news with a slight smile. I could see it in her eyes. The doubt she held had dissipated. There was a brief moment of introspection quickly followed by a sigh of accomplishment. For that moment I could see she felt all the years of activism had finally paid off. Our country had moved beyond it's racist past and voted for a Black candidate based upon his values and promise to make a change.

I went to bed proud of my mom and proud to be her daughter. She has raised a liberal who has often felt the frustration of continued efforts to persuade apathatic and ignorant Americans. But the evening was ours.

I turned on Jay Marvin this morning to hear my fellow liberals discuss the Iowa results and couldn't help but burst out in a loud hoorah. I whooped and hollered to myself as I drove to my carpool and absorbed the moment. I held back tears that seldom fall.

Today is ours. Every liberal activist who has spent their lifetime educating others about racism, diversity, and multiculturalism can smile today and know our work has made a difference.

My faith has been restored. I will put my boots back on and pound that pavement once again to educate and inform those I had given up on.

Thank you Iowa.