Post-election

Yesterday, I sent emails to some family members asking what the election meant to them based on their life experiences. They have all agreed to sit and write it out so that I can archive it for future family members.

Today I'll share one of my memories, the one that popped to mind most prominently as Barack O'bama gave his speech Tuesday night. Vividly, the image of a young, black man, a boy actually, in my second grade class in Starkeville, Mississippi, in 1971, supplanted itself over the face of our new President. I don't remember the boys name, but I hope never to forget the image of him.

He had been made to stand beside his desk while our teacher, Mrs. Rice, berated him for his shabby clothes and told him and us never to wear clothes like that to school. She spoke of the disrespect his clothes showed, but his torn, denim shorts and hole-worn shoes without socks were not a disrespect to school. They were a disrespect to him, a human being with dignity and deserving of better. And his clothes were not the greatest disrespect in that classroom that day. Her words, her shaming behavior, her racism, her bullying were the greater offense. I remember looking at him and thinking how beautiful he was, standing there with a firm jaw and squared shoulders, a quiet, strong man-to-be, taking the lash of her tongue without lowering himself to her brutish level. He was taller than the rest of us and may have been older. He looked older than we. He did not say one word.

I sat in my seat, glaring at my teacher whom I had been taught to respect, but whom, I realized, did not deserve it.

Now, through the haze of history and memory, I do not remember if I spoke up to her aloud or only in my head. But I remember saying, "You shouldn't yell at him like that. He may not be able to afford better." Words, retorts, arguments burned into my brain in that moment. They have served me well since. There are times I think that day was a defining moment in my life, a time that said, "find your voice and speak out for those who can't speak for themselves. Never let an injustice go unanswered."

As I watched and listened to Barack O'bama Tuesday night, I remembered that proud boy in second grade and felt that somehow he had finally received justice.