Mostly sweet, a little sour
I’m still trying to process all the emotions I’ve been feeling since Tuesday night. I can barely believe it’s real, that Barack Obama is our next president, and what that means to me, to my daughter, to our nation, to the world. When I awoke at 3:00 in the morning on the 5th, I actually pinched myself. Lying in the dark, I thought of the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. spoken on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated:
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
Certainly, we are living this prophetic goal and the enormity of it overtakes me in thundering waves. But my elation has a bittersweetness to it; there is still struggle and there will be until all people have equal rights. The Golden State has shown the world her ugly side; blue California still breathes hot red bigotry and the passage of Proposition 8 stands in stark contrast to the progress we watched unfold on the national stage. For the first time I can think of, the citizens of California have amended our constitution to take rights away from people and that is nothing short of shameful. Because of this, my elation was tempered.
But I’m not despondent and here’s why: Those narrow-minded folks who used deceit in their advertising, who tricked and frightened a small majority of terribly confused Californians with the financial backing of the Mormon church, these unscrupulous idealogues will eventually take same-sex marriage to the Supreme Court. And guess who is going to have at least one (maybe as many as three!) appointments during the next four years? Yes, indeed. Our new steward, Barack Obama! Hell-OH! I believe we overwhelmingly elected a president who would not put a judge on the court who doesn’t support civil rights for all citizens.
While this latest denial of equality and basic rights is a sad reflection of an ever-shrinking sliver of haters in our country, progress will come. It takes time to get to that mountain top but we will get there. Barack Obama is leading us now.
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