NYT, Bob Herbert: Savor the Moment: "a black man and a white woman"

[DeepModem Mom]

Op-Ed Columnist
Savor the Moment
By BOB HERBERT
Published: June 7, 2008

....The United States in 1968 (the same year in which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated) was a stunningly different place from the country we know now, so different that most of today’s young people would have trouble imagining it. The notion in ’68 that a black person — or a woman — might have a serious shot at the presidency would have been widely viewed as lunacy....

***

Racism and sexism have not taken their leave. But the fact that Barack Obama is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, and that the two finalists for that prize were a black man and a white woman, are historical events of the highest importance. We should not allow ourselves to overlook the wonder of this moment.

I was stopped on the street the other day by a woman who was holding the hand of a little girl, a toddler. After talking politics for a couple of minutes, the woman smiled and said: “Watch this.” She then looked at her daughter and, referring to a certain presidential candidate, asked: “What’s her name?” The little girl beamed and said: “Hil-la-ry!”

That same night a middle-aged black man came to my apartment door with a food delivery. I’d seen him before, but he’d never said much, just sort of grunted a hello and a thank you. This time, after handing me the package and counting out change, he asked, shyly: “Did Mr. Obama win the nomination?”

“Yes,” I said. “He won.”

“For sure?”

I said yes, and suddenly the widest grin spread across the delivery man’s face. It was as though he’d been holding that grin in some hidden depth of emotional reserve for the entire campaign.

This election year has been a testament to the many long decades of work and sacrifice by men and women — some famous, most not; some still alive, many gone — to build a more equitable and just American society. When the night riders were fitted for their robes, when Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door, when lowlifes mocked and humiliated those who were fighting for women’s rights, they were trying to forestall the realization of this type of moment in history....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/opinion/07herbert.html?hp

[Skittles]

1. a man will be president

so not all has changed

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Skittles...

Let me remind you...

Neither gender nor race has anything to do with it.

We selected the best person for the job.

That's all.

I hope you can see it that way too...

:hug:

[Skittles]

3. no I do not n/t

[grytpype]

4. :eyes:

:eyes:

[Skittles]

5. eyes back at ya n/t

[aquart]

6. You selected a man for the job.

And gender and race had everything to do with it.

"Nothing to do with it." Hey, rube.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. I didn't select him because he is a man.

I selected him because he is the best one for the job, IMHO.

You can stop with the name-calling now.

[JDPriestly]

8. Women always wait.

African-American got the vote (theoretically) not long after the Civil War. Women had to wait until 1920. Granted, in the South, African-Americans often could not vote until the 1960s, but then, it is my understanding that we married women could not even get our own business loans without the signatures of our husbands until after that.

[stray cat]

12. We do - but I won't base my vote on a person's gender or color alone

[JDPriestly]

14. I don't either. Gender and color are pretty irrelevant to me.

[Bonn1997]

9. Did you expect ALL to change at once?

Is there a black woman with Asian and Native American heritage we can vote for?

[Captain Hilts]

10. Herbert was peddling the "vandalism of the White House" lies about the Clintons barely a month ago..

To hell with him.

[stray cat]

11. You would prefer Condoleza Rice as she is female?

[Bonn1997]

13. If Hillary were the nominee,

what would your response be if someone said "Another White will be President. So not all has changed."?