What This Day Means To Me

This day is a day that will change our lives forever. This day is a major stepping stone in the history of our country. It is the first step in the repair of hundreds and hundreds of years of injustice, cruelty and inhumanity. This day is for the Tuskegee Airmen, for Rodney King and for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This day is for Rosa Parks and for the little girls who so courageously marched into that school in Alabama. But this day is also for every single one of those slaves who dreamt of this day, but hardly dared to hope. This day is for the millions of patriots who marched and looked to this day, faithfully believing that it would come. This day is for every single black person who ever took a seat at the back of the bus, who drank from a "colored" water fountain, or who dreamt of the day that they would be allowed to vote and be treated as a full human being. This day is for every black child who can now look to the leader of our country and recognize themselves there.

But this day is also for me, a lily-white, life-long member of the American middle class. This day is for my children. And my children's children. This day means that I can be proud to be an American, proud of what we stand for and proud of who we are. This day means that my children can grow up in a society that believes in love, diplomacy and peace. My children can grow up in a country that does not torture.

It's a long and winding road that stretches out before us. Far longer than four or eight years. But ths journey has begun and the ground is shifting beneath us. Let us all remember where we were and what we felt on this day that has changed our lives and changed our history.