anger.

we've moved. and this morning, i was driving to the grocery and passed a confederate flag flying high on a farm down from our house.

this is new. i'm assuming that it was put up because of the election.

come.on.people! seriously? are you kidding me. i'm so angry. so, so very angry.

maybe this is happening in maumelle. i don't know. it doesn't really matter. what matters is that it is happening.

i don't care if you like obama or not, surely it's evident that something new has happened. that change has already occured. that a black person was elected as president of the united states. that for the first time, parents all over this nation can tuck their children into bed and say, "yes, you too can be president of the united states." think about that for a minute. if you're white, it doesn't mean anything. i know. because that comes with being white. but being black...no, not just being black...being ANYTHING other than a white male...that is a totally new concept.

i was raised seeing color. we all are. even if we try not to.

but i was also raised being aware of the injustice that has happened in this country, and on a much larger scale...in our world.

i can remember going to the holocaust museum in washington dc. i can remember the wall of shoes. wall. yes, like three stories of the museum, filled with shoes from those that lost their lives. i was young when we went. maybe 11 or 12. but it didn't matter. i can close my eyes and see those faces. see those beds where they were forced to sleep. see the shower heads. all of it.

i have never understood slavery. never been able to wrap my mind around it. i cannot understand how anyone thought that it was acceptable. i like to think that had i been alive at the time, i would have had a problem with it. i would have been the one to stand up and argue.

and so to see a flag that to me, symbolizes just that...it's heartbreaking. absolutely heartbreaking. and i don't want to hear that it symbolizes anything else. not today. not in 2008 right after we elect a black president. it's not anything more than

i'd like to walk around and believe that people are better than that. and that there are only a handful of families who hang confederate flags. but i know i'm wrong.

my sister is a fourth grade teacher in a small, rural school district. mostly white kids. she sent and email out to several people yesterday. here is what it said...

I know that Im not the best writer and I also know that this email will not change anyone's mind but I feel that there are some things that need to be said...

I teach 19 kids every day and each and every day I work with children that come from a variety of life styles and homes. These kids are white, black, asian, mexican, wealthy, poor and some are only eating when they are at school- so my point is I see it all. Yesterday we did a lesson on the electoral votes and I tried my best to explain this to my kids (because to be honest I was never taught any of it)...My eyes were opened... I over heard several of my white kids discussing how they won't vote for a black man and their parents hate Obama...

My quiet little black boy sat in the back taking this all in... When I finished the lesson his hand came up slowly and he said " My parents don't really want Obama to win bc there is a chance he will be shot... bc white people don't like him"-

Now, let's all take this in and think what it must feel like to be 10 years old and feel that way... He was born black and he knows for a fact that people dislike him bc of that... Regardless of his parent's or his grandparent's he is now having to sit in a classroom and listen to prejudice white kids discuss his race...

My point is regardless if you voted for McCain or Obama wake up people... it's 2008 we don't have slaves anymore and this world is changing... Just like I told my kids yesterday Barack Obama's mother is just as white as you and I... Just like my 10 year old- he can't help his race...

Putting all politics aside- he won, he is our president, all of you can sit around and complain about how much you hate him for whatever reason, but if we claim we are all devoted christians- let's act like it...

Maybe more people need to work in education and open their eyes to what this world should be like... if we all thought like children our world would be a happier and healthier place....

i will spend the rest of my life teaching pratt about slavery, and the holocaust, and genocide in darfur. he will know all of it. he won't be sheltered. he will never fly a confederate flag. he'll probably hunt therefore he'll probably not agree with me on gun control...

but luckily, he won't ever know a world where a little black boy sits in the back of a classroom and worries that a black man will get shot simply because he's running for president.

i hope that we prove that little boy wrong.

i hope that his parents can enjoy the next four years.

i hope that he knows that not all of america is as racist as his small town.