Yes, We Can

I've thought of so many things I could say on this most special night. I thought of marches for equal rights, of walking hand in hand with an elderly Black man in Los Angeles for a 5K walk and enduring taunts and cat calls. I thought of my first boy friend, who my parents would not allow me to date because his grandfather was Black.

I thought of all the Black children in America who could now express the desire to one day be President and not have their parents try to direct their dreams to more "acceptable" or "possible" goals. I thought, "Now it is true. Any child can..."

I didn't want it to be all about Barak Obama being African-American, because there are so many issues facing us. But for me it inevitably comes back to that: that in my lifetime we can go from Selma and the schoolhouse steps in Little Rock and the all white colleges in the South being forced to integration, and the restaurant sit-ins and Rosa Parks. That in my lifetime we can go from that to an African-American President, one who represents all of America, every American. I cannot escape that most powerful part of his election: that American has grown up enough to elect a Black man and Black woman to the White House. That maybe, just maybe, we will become color blind.

Martin, you had a Dream. I remember standing by the Reflecting Pool, my feet hurting and being horribly tired and thirsty beyond bearing; and forgetting all that with the resonance of those wonderful words: I have a Dream.

Today, that Dream is reality. And Tomorrow we start to make the change real.