Guest Blogger

Please be gentle.  After 2000 and 2004, you left me disillusioned and
detached, and incredibly pessimistic about the state of the country
and the general level of engagement of our citizens.  Since then, I
haven’t been able to stomach more than five minutes of the garbage
that our president spits out.  I haven’t been able to bring myself to
watch our system be subverted and our civil rights eroded.  It angers
me, that so many people are sleeping as this happens, and that it may
not be until we need those rights that we finally wake up to what has
happened.

I’ve gotten so pessimistic the last few years.  The ridiculous
stupidity of so many of our country when it comes to diversity and
difference is inexcusable to me.  I have heard ignorant, racist
comments from people that have made me crazy with anger.  From
business leaders and ‘educated’ people who clearly should know better.

So when I saw Senator Obama was running for President, I thought “it
will never happen.  This country is still too racist to be ready for
an African-American leader.”  I thought that people might say that
race has no bearing on a candidate’s ability to do the job, but the
reality is that only their heart accompanies them into the voting
booth, and I have seen a lot of hearts with hate and prejudice in them.

Even when he won Iowa, I was surprised, but not ready to believe that
this was a turning point in American history.  But something happened
the other day.  NPR was interviewing people in South Carolina about
Senator Obama, and these white Southerners with the thick accents
that many might associate with prejudice were expressing their
support for this candidate.  And I literally got tears in my eyes.  I
felt hope.  For the first time in seven years, I felt hope for our
country’s future.

So, please don’t stomp that out, America.  It’s not that I don’t like
Senator Clinton.  I do, and having a woman President would be
wonderful.  But she doesn’t energize me in the same way that Senator
Obama does.  Let’s prove as a country that we are ready for a change,
and that racism doesn’t have as strong a hold as it has
historically.  Let me turn to my children and tell them honestly that
in America, they can grow up to be President.