He Was There!

There is a wonderful columnist, Leon Hale, who writes for the Houston Chronicle and currently is doing a blog. He will never retire and he loves to tell the stories of the old days.

The other day, Leon Hale wrote a blog that really spoke to my heart.

I haven't talked a lot about it, but I was saddened when I came to East Texas to find less Blacks and Whites socializing than what I was used to in Toronto.

The stories I heard of how African-Americans were treated in the South were heart-breaking. Because I wouldn't give up, I made Black friends here and in fact, they are probably my truest friends!

So, Leon Hale told about a son of a maid in his neighborhood who used to kick the football around in the front yard after Leon's white friends had left. The bottom line was that Leon was watching the crowds in Washington last week and he was thinking his friend was probably there. (Of course, we don't know for sure if that man is even still alive, but I, too, would like to think he was there.) For sure he would have been watching his TV to see how a Black person finally broke down a bunch of barriers and is living - for all of us - the Dream of Martin Luther King, Jr.

I made a new friend on Facebook who went from Houston to Washington for that man and all those just like him. She had tickets and gathered her family from various places and her bottom line was that you could not put a price tag on that experience.

The best part for me was that Carolyn sent pictures from her phone of her family, the massive crowds, her tickets, her autographed photos of the President and Vice-President. I printed a few of those and along with the best photos I could find of Barack and Michelle Obama, I started my own scrapbook of this historical event.

After the Inauguration, Carolyn and her family toured Washington and so there are pictures of where MLK stood and the words on the inside and outside of the Lincoln Memorial.

Yesterday I told you about my wonderful friend whose Grandma wasn't home when the school bus brought her home yesterday. She's 8 years old and in Grade 4. I told you we did a couple of multiplication tables and had the Willie Nelson bear sing and offered her a cookie. I guess I didn't tell you she is African-American, did I?

I have told her Grandma, my precious friend, that I just don't get it - but she knows I do. When her late husband told us about sitting at the back of the bus when he came home from war wearing his uniform, I cried. When I think about the things they have told me, I still cry for how these people were treated.

So, how happy was I yesterday to show Grandma and "Susie" the beginning of my album of the Inauguration?

Just as Leon's friend was there in Washington, I think Susie's Grandpa was there too.

I talked a bit to Susie about how hard she must work in school to get really great grades so she can be whatever she wants to be. Then, I told her,

"Well, we have a Black President now, but do you know what we have not had?" She shook her head like the good listener she can be.

"We have not yet had a WOMAN President!"

Still lots to conquer when you're only eight years old!

http://blogs.chron.com/leonhale/2009/01/was_my_friend_at_the_inaugurat.html