Progress

My white Southern grandparents knew 
families who'd once had Negro slaves,
I expect, although we never spoke of it,
but Grandpa was not averse to the N word
occasionally, which embarrassed my
parents, who felt it was wrong, teaching us,
by example, to respect all people.
They tell of the days
with separate eating counters,
water fountains, balconies at
the movie theater marked  "colored."
Still a time of extremes. Us and them.
When Mama was on bed rest,
pregnant with my brother who would die,
a succession of dark-skinned maids cared for me.
I was too little to have even one name, one face
that remains in memory.
The Kennedy assassinations? Martin Luther King?
Those days I remember well.
Then school segregation, the nervous merging of
high schools, fights, school called off
in fear of riots.
My children's generation helped elect
a mixed race man to the highest office
in the country. They know nothing of
the long, hard fight for civil rights, equality.
Their black peers could tell them, though, I'll bet,
stories passed down. They, all of us, are reaping 
what so many sowed, seeds watered 
with tears and blood. Not just here, but
all over the world.
My grandchildren will, no doubt, look back 
and tell their kids, their grandkids,
that progress never stops, that we're still
working to make this the nation 
it was meant to be.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal. That they are endowed 
by their Creator 
with certain unalienable Rights, 
that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness."
One day, I hope, the words reflect
reality. We've made progress.
Have a way to go. 



(c) Ellen Gillette, 2012

I disagree with much of President Obama's decisions and behavior, but his election was still a huge indication of the progress our country has made. I still find it curious that many people regard him as the first black president, since he is half-white, but that's a matter of semantics. In this country, anyway, half-anything-not-the-resident-majority (whatever THAT is) almost always labels you. For now. Maybe one day, we'll stop doing that. All of us. Light-skinned blacks are still sometimes ostracized by blacks for being "too white." All kinds of combinations exist, and should exist, but we still love to put those labels on people. As I said, we have a way to go. The good news is, we've already come so far.