storyteller

As we all take in the fact that the 44Th president will be Black, we must realize that the bridge is now being built.  And weather or not we like it we all must help build that bridge.  Before this election I for one have never viewed Barack Obama as  just a black man who was running for president. I viewed him as an Educated, Well Mannered, Honest, Clean Cut and Well Groomed Professional Man.  Nothing less  than that, and he earned my respect as that.  Not as a politician, but as a Senator and a member of our Government, he has never presented himself as what people here in Arkansas have referred to him as. 

Now prior to the election, for the past year in fact I have heard a lot of expressions that I wish I had never heard.   The fact is that in the State of Arkansas Bigotry is still alive and rears it’s nasty head.  That is right I said it, I live in a place that is over run with  REDNECK BIGOTS! I however have not witnessed any sheets in my travels, nor has a cross been burned in my yard.  But then stranger things have been known to happen in my neck of the woods.  I cannot believe that the people in my surrounding areas actually think that they would be better off with another 4 yrs. of Republican Rule!   That could be a blog all on its own merit. 

I was raised in a home that had a bigot running it, my stepfather was a huge bigot, and I grew up hearing the bad and worst of it. I never saw color, until he pointed it out to me at age 8 shortly after my mother married the creep.  One of my best friends was a girl named Glenda and she was black.  He hated her  and I did not understand why and because I was determined not to be HIM while I was growing up.  I formed my own opinions and had my own friends some of which are black, and he hated them too.  I still don’t understand it, and never will….He will die a lonely old man, with his bigot ways.   I find that whatever people think does not have to influence me and the way I see the world.  There is no color and I want to be one of the ones who carries the bricks to build the bridge not the one who tears it down.

We can all build a bridge over the gap that left this country and its people with deep, deep wounds.  You just have to do it with a baby step, one foot first, then the other.  And there needs to be a balancing of cultures, this encompasses all areas of understanding.  I know that people are very scared of the unknown, and this will be unknown territory.  Ultimately we are going in the right direction, with a bright, younger, and fresh new path, so why not loose the old way of thinking and go with it.  America is the melting pot for all who come here and now we must stand shoulder to shoulder and build the bridge for all of the Americans that reside here, work here, and live here.  I say Hello to our 44Th president Mr. Barack Obama, and I am here to help build that bridge.  Have a nice day!

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