My Parents are Literary and Thoughtful

MOM

Nov 4, 2008

Dear Gina, Leslie, Louis, Jeffrey and Nathan,

What a historic moment we have all just witnessed. I have been texting and/or talking with each you on the phone tonight, sharing this experience.

I am moved to tears when I think about what this means.

Kayla will never know a country where this was not possible.

Young people, even all those country white boys in Wisconsin that Nathan kept telling me were going to vote for Obama, know that it matters whether they vote or not.

People to whom it otherwise might not occur, will get a chance to see how someone who lived a life of diversity, of different cultures in his own family, learned to understand and respect different perspectives and to find common ground.

Each of you will know that your African American President has a WHITE MOM, too. :)

The world will get to see an achieving African American family that is not fiction and is not called the Cosby Show.

Those of us who like strong, smart women, will have the pleasure of watching Michelle Obama continue her path of greatness on a national level.

The world can see that the American people are GOOD--we have said we don't want a leader like George Bush. Most of us get it that the United States is part of a whole world of countries and cultures.

We will all remember this moment and where we were when it happened. How wonderful for that to be true of something other than assassinations or terrorist attacks.

It has been a long while since I have felt proud of my country. Tonight I feel proud. And I feel grateful to all the generations of people who made this possible. And I feel hopeful.

Thanks for sharing this night with me. I love you all and am so happy this has come to pass.

Love,
Mom

DAD
April 4, 2006

Hi kids,

Tomorrow I turn 53 years old which is a historic time for me as it is not only my golden birthday as I was born in 1953...but I have outlived my own father who died at 52.

A lot has occurred in my lifetime.

I was born COLORED in the Jim crow segregation era, became a NEGRO by the time I started school, turned BLACK in high school, and became an AFRICAN AMERICAN in college.

Of course the only constant name throughout my lifetime is the N word.

My mother had a 3rd grade education and my father was a high school graduate from one of the old segregated negro schools in south Carolina where the negro high school only went to the 10th grade.

I lived through and saw on TV the era of MLK, Malcolm X, Vietnam war, hippies, the Black panthers, Rosa Parks, etc.

Despite all of this stuff I can honestly say that I have been happy most of my life.

One regret I do have is that I wish I could meet my kindergarten (Mrs. Johnson) teacher again to let her know I turned out OK. I am sure she worried about me a few times because I hit a few kids with blocks (those kids deserved it too).

Yes, I did good for a ghetto kid. I have accomplished a lot in my lifetime and will accomplish more as I expect to live for another 25 years or so.

Love,
Dad