The Problem With 11/5/08's Defining Moment: The Definition Is Racism

This election has fleshed out a dirty American secret: racism is alive and well. All around the country racist events have increased since November 5. Clearly, there are those who are not happy about the outcome of the vote (see AP article ). People who call themselves American who are not willing to accept that the American system has spoken and to abide by its words.
So they are acting out in the most unattractive (no, that's too nice a word...) ugly ways.
Hard as it is, I can't help but believe this is productive. America is vomiting up its disease and while the process is messy.... it may just reduce, if not eliminate, the prevalence of a most covert cancer. Was Barack Obama the the cure? In part.
There have been a hundred therapies to bring us to this point. My prayer is this: that we who do not hold racist sentiments, regardless of how we marked our ballots, will have the courage to stand up and be counted as the antidote -- that we stand up and speak out against every racist reference that comes into our realm of experience whether it be a veiled remark, outright slur, or explicit action. I pray that we love the sinner and hate the sin. I pray that we peacefully and deliberately use this opportunity as a rising tide instead of killing deluge.
Americans have been taught better. And it is time for us to expect better. We can turn the tide of racism now.

If It's A Dream, Don't Wake Me

I remember a song from the sixties. Yes, a folk song...a protest song...a song of hope. That's what they sang in the sixties (so a lot of folks think, but I'm thinking the Beatles were pretty big then, too). Anyway, it was called The Strangest Dream. It was written by Ed McCurdy and sung by lots of artists including Arlo Guthrie, The Kingston Trio, and Simon & Garfunkel.
In the song he tells about this dream in which the entire world agrees to sign a treaty agreeing to end war. Forever. It tells of the important men in a big room signing the papers and that once they were signed they joined hands and prayed grateful prayers.
And then the song says, the people in the streets below were dancing round and round.
Imagine that, people dancing in the streets for joy because of some momentous, world-changing decision. One that incited peaceful, gleeful, hopeful celebration.
I saw a day like that.
November 4, 2008 after the presidential election was called for Barack Obama.
Annie called from Manhattan and said listen to this! She held her cell phone out the window of her apartment that sits just half a block off Broadway at 116th. And I could hear the sound of many voices, shouting, singing, laughing.
She said they'd shut down Broadway completely. That people had spontaneously come out from their homes into the street to simply dance and be glad. On the television we caught glimpses of this celebration along with those in other parts of the country and world.
Imagine that.
I am told that the night Tom Brokaw broadcast from Berlin the fall of that dreaful wall that NBC news caught footage of east German school children singing that song. People danced then, too.

There are these rare moments in life, moments born of liberation, in which our spirits are totally caught up with those of others....and all we can do is dance.
We had such a moment.
Praise God.
We had such a moment.

We Are The People That We've Been Waiting For!!!

He is the one up front. But we are the ones who work the change. Are we up for it, America???

Breaking the silence....

It is 5 minutes past 9:00 mountain time on November 4, 2o08. History has been made. I am living and breathing and laughing at a moment that time will acknowledge as "oh so big!!!"
Barack Obama has been elected president of these United States of America.
I am beside myself with joy. Hope springs eternal. Possibilities abound. An era of discord and tyranny is behind us.
I know, I am dramatic. But I am caught up in the images on the screen....fresh young faces of all shapes, sizes, colors dancing, smiling, shouting, and proclaiming that a new age is dawning. Change is not coming, it is here! I am caught up in the tears that flow from the eyes, the soul, the gut of freedom lovers and fighters from my own generation. I am caught up in the moment.
I know this is frightening for the old guard, my friends' and family's guard.
Be assured, dear friends, God is in control.
As I type, John McCain speaks his words of concession. He praises the choice of his countrymen and women. He applauds us all and he welcomes this new wave.
So do I.