Profound change that some people can not fathom.
A new way of thinking.
I recall not knowing that black, African American, colored people, whatever name is given were not just people. I recall not knowing that there was such a thing as racism and hate. In my naive way I thought people were just people and all of us were the same, no matter what we looked like on the outside.
Truly I was quite old before it dawned on me there were problems in the world...big ones.
I grew up, in the very early years, poor. We lived in poor areas, where the rent was affordable. That said, we lived in the real parts of America, not in suburbia...where at that time, everyone was white. (White white, not chocolate.) So I lived with all sorts of people and in my family, there were black people and chocolate people and white people; however, I knew not that it was not common.
What I knew, was that I loved all sorts of people, and I did not love anyone because of their skin.
When I was nine, before my mom remarried, we live in a neighborhood were people were less accepting of anything but white people. I did not realize this though because I was a little blond haired, blue eyed child; that is, until an African American child came to my school.
And was singled out for the hatred of children in way one does not understand, unless one has also been hated as a child. I was appalled to learn that people judged others by their color.
Mystified.
All my life I had had black people as relatives and knew that people can be good or bad and it ha nothing to do with skin. I remember discussing it with my mom.
I remember the fourth grade, in 1976, as my point of maturation, the loss of my innocence.
So today, as a true blue Republican, I could not have been any prouder to be American than I felt watching history be remarkably made with a new leader and a new vision.
God save the Presidency.
