I guess you really don't get it, do you?

Some people in the audience there lived through times when having the wrong color skin meant you couldn't vote or attend the "good" (white) school in town. They saw water fountains marked "Whites Only" and looked over their shoulders for fear of being targetted for violence simply based on their skin color. Fathers, daughters, mothers, and sons. Veterans who had come back from the war - some crippled - who then had to answer to "boy".

People nationwide don't get all giddy because "we finally got a nominee from Oregon" or "we finally got a nominee who is left-handed"! People take it for granted that those factors didn't and shouldn't matter. It has only been through protests, court judgments, and some great leaders that we have only relatively recently begun to even *hint* that race will make it into that list of "doesn't matter" factors.

This week is a milestone in marking that journey. If you cannot step back and see that, the fault lies within you.

BG