From Alabama to Obama
Clearly the man was outraged. His face was red and he spat when he spoke. His hand, holding the cigar shook spasmodically. “Who do you think you are, walking right alongside a little white girl like that in this town?” he roared. “N_____, you better learn your place!” He jabbed his burning cigar into the chest of the brown-skinned six-year old where it sizzled for a few seconds through cloth and against flesh.
The year was 1965. The place was Ft. McClellan, Alabama. The burned child was me. The “little white girl” was my light-skinned sister.
I am now a 48-year old resident of this nation’s capitol with children of my own who cannot imagine such a society. They cannot fathom their skin color being of any less value than that of their Caucasian counterparts, many of whom are quite vocal about the ugliness of racism that shames some of them today. As an educator, I have shared details of the incident with various classes and groups (black and white) that were studying the negative impact of racial disparity and exclusion, and without exception, each and every individual in the audience appeared visibly shocked—sometimes even angry.
And yet, racism, along with its ugly stepsisters discrimination and bigotry, is still very much alive and well, thank you very much; even here in the nation’s capitol. The only real change between the sixties and now is that the pool of the discriminated has increased exponentially with the inclusion of other ethnic populations that have arrived in this country for the very same purposes as the Pilgrims and their current day ancestors who proudly continue to perpetuate the ugly (not to mention untrue!) notion of racial superiority. The irony is staggering.
So it should come as no surprise that citizens of good conscience prefer Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. It should not be an astounding realization that this one individual, himself a product of the union of Black and White, can envision a truly united state of mind ready (anxious even!) for change. I have always felt rather ambivalently about “the land of the free and the home of the brave” because of its history with me. But now I, too, am hopeful for and eager to see this thing called Change. It would be a first step in the right direction for a lost America.
—Shari Jackson Small, Washington, DC