From Segregation to Inauguration: A Dream Realized

By Shari Einhorn

Wow...what a day!  I don't think it matters who you voted for -- today is a day that will change our history forever.  It is one moment in time that so many never even dared to dream about.

I watched the inauguration with a group of nearly a hundred at the Faith Baptist Church in Coram.  The room was decorated with red, white and blue tablecloths.  There were American flags hanging on the walls and being waved in the hands of children.  There were pictures of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hanging on bulletin boards next to newspaper covers with now president Barack Obama's picture.

The room was buzzing with excitement when we walked in.  All eyes were glued to the images on tv.  For many of the men and women watching here...this was a day they never thought would happen.  Several of them grew up in the segregated South.  They told me they went to all black schools, drank from designated water fountains, ate in specific restaurants and just thought that was the way the world was.

They told me that their parents taught them at a young age where to go and where not to go...they "knew their place."

Mary Kirland Johnson grew up in South Carolina.  She went to the 5 and dime store to buy hot dogs but wasn't allowed inside to pick up the food because it was for whites only.

Mary told me "I accepted it -- I really did.  I didn't upset myself over it because I thought it was the right thing -- I didn't know any better."

But after watching the inauguration she said "It was so beautiful and inspiring.  I'm just so happy for this day and proud.  I really believe the world will be a better place.  I have high hopes."

Minnie Hamilton Wilson grew up in Florida.  She told me about walking 5 miles to school because bus transportation was only available to the white students.  She said "They would pass us on the bus and laugh and wave and throw papers."  She had one white girlfriend when she was younger and told me they used to go to the movies together...but they couldn't sit together.  "I went in my section and she went in hers."

Theodore Frederick grew up in Louisiana and told me "I'm ashamed to say it but growing up I wanted to be white -- not because I wanted to change the color of my skin but I wanted what they had."

His father was a deputy sheriff who even with his law enforcement status -- had limitations.  "He could detain whites but not physically -- couldn't put handcuffs on and couldn't touch them.  He had to call a white officer to do the job.  But he could arrest anyone colored."

If you could have seen the looks on their faces when Barack Obama took his oath of office...observed the emotion on their faces when he was announced as the 44th president of the United States and felt the energy in the room when it was all over -- you would also be saying -- Wow what a day!

I'll leave you with this quote from a man I met today.  I asked him if as a child he ever thought that one day there might be a black president.  He said "It's not that I didn't wish it.  It's not that I didn't hope for it.  It's just that they way things were -- the way we were treated -- I never thought America would allow it."

Shari

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[SUSAN L.RUDNICK]

HOPEFULLY WE CAN GET PASSED LABELING PEOPLE AND STOP PUTTING THEM INTO NEAT LITTLE PACKAGES BASED UPON THEIR PERSONAL HERITAGE.WE ARE ALL HUMAN BEINGS.WE ALL BLEED THE SAME.WE ALL BREATHE THE SAME AIR.WE ALL INHABIT THE SAME PLANET TOGETHER.OUR PRESIDENT IS A MAN OF PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTER.HE TRULY EMBRACES EACH PERSON WITH RESPECT AND DIGNITY.I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN CITIZEN .BECAUSE OF HIM AND ALL THE COURAGIOUS PEOPLE WHO VOTED FOR HIM,LETS ALL LOOK FORWARD TO A BRIGHTER TOMORROW!THE RUDNICK FAMILY