This November, the citizens of the US will vote for a President who’s black or a Vice President who’s a woman.
And I couldn’t be more proud.
I’m proud because those who have struggled with issues of bias, prejudice and hate will have to grow up. This goes both ways of course, and that’s what makes this challenge so special.
Think about it. Those who vote for Obama ’cause he’s black, will also vote for a white VP. Those who vote against the black candidate will also vote for a woman. Those that just want a typical white male leader are plum our of luck!
This, of course, will mean lots of stories from the media pointing our all the biases, prejudices and hate, and they won’t be wrong. But here’s the bigger story that they’ll miss: Outside of a minority of people who simply won’t vote, a large number of people will grow this fall. They will – perhaps with difficulty – set aside pre-conceived notions and examine these candidates as people.They will study the issues more than in the past. They will listen and read and think.
Then they will go the voting booths and cast votes in an historic election. An election that will move our nation a few steps further towards the fulfilling words that started it all:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
God bless America.
