When I was four years old, my new friend, Juliet, came over to our house. (In those days no one called this a 'play date') In the course of that first day, we were to take a nap together on my parents' big bed. I noticed that my new friend was not wearing an undershirt! This was my first experience in knowing that people are different and it didn't actually matter if you wore an undershirt or not. As the years passed and Juliet and I became best friends forever and we grew up; the things that mattered were what books we read, where we would go in the woods, what imaginary games we would play, and later on, the boys we loved. And still, the books we read.
Today, the differences are far different from what undergarments a kid wears. Our public schools are full of colorful children, the differences mostly about class, not color.
In my elder life, in my retirement from a lifetime of teaching in a private school, I realize that the most compelling issue of my adult life has been about race in America. I have struggled to make my private school welcoming to blacks and I have tried and been lacking.
This is why I will vote for Obama. I will readily play the race card. I believe that Obama is a brilliant person, no doubt. I think that Obama will be the hope for change that African-Americans can support. Perhaps I am putting too much responsibility on him, to think that he can (hopefully!) bring that quarter of our American population into the mainstream of America.
I want to see our prisons free of having a majority of black men incarcerated there. I want to see black children have two parents who care about them. And I want to see the day when the sun shines on all our colorful people and we all rejoice together and go forward to address our needs and desires. I believe Obama has this best chance.
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