a miracle

I grew up during the ‘50’s & ‘60’s in southwestern Ohio, about 40 miles east of Cincinnati. I was maybe 10 yrs old when, for some reason, my family went to Maysville, KY – which lies just across the Ohio River from my home county in Ohio. It was my 1st venture out of Ohio, into what we northerners considered a “southern state”.

It was in a department store in Maysville that I encountered assign on the restroom that said, “whites only.” I was aware of these kinds of signs, but hadn’t run into one before. I’d been all over Cincinnati many times, which had a large black population, & hadn’t run into such signs.

After that trip to Maysville, I was a little less innocent, & was somehow tainted by the experience. For the life of me, in my 10 yr old mind, I couldn’t figure out why blacks couldn’t pee in the same restroom as whites. It happened all the time every time I went to Cincinnati. I had never thought about it – until that trip to Maysville.

Soon after that trip, during the ‘60’s, we went through the terrible, exciting, frightening, & fulfilling times of the civil rights movement. All of us who were alive & in high school &/or college at that time participated in some shape or form in the struggle for equality of our black brothers & sisters. Many of us were a part of marches, sit-ins, protests, with their share of fire hose baths & billy club hits. But it was worth it all, & then some.

During those days, the possibility of a black woman or man being elected president was absolutely unthinkable. In the days that followed in the ‘70’s, ‘80’s, & ‘90’s, it still seemed highly unlikely, a far off dream for maybe our grandchildren, or great-grandchildren.

It doesn’t matter what our political persuasion may be. This week we witnessed a miracle. America was able to put aside centuries of prejudice & stupidity & elect a black person as president. And because of it our black kindred can walk taller, feel better, & know they are a giant step closer to the elusive “equality”