Blue Notes from a Red Zone

What It Means to Me

Last week I had the privilege of voting for Obama.

It’s common for people to speak disdainfully of politicians, as though seeking to serve our country is by definition dishonorable. Fellow citizens speak of voting for the "lesser of two evils,” and never admit to voting for someone they admire. I don't think looking down on our elected officials is constructive for our society.

I have voted for many people I greatly respected and admired, most of whom, admittedly, lost. Never have I voted for anyone I admired more than Obama. He represents so much that is good in our world. He is brilliant, informed, compassionate, and calm. He would have been my choice had he been white, black, Hispanic, Asian or Middle Eastern. But it made it all the sweeter that he was black.

When I was 16, I spent a summer working for Head Start. It was Head Start's first year of operation, and it was exciting to be in on the ground floor of a tremendous social movement, one that continues to make a profound positive difference in the lives of many. It also changed my world.

That first summer, Head Start was located at an elementary school near my house, and the children were drawn from a neighborhood less than a mile from my own. The community had been formed to supply the maids, cooks, laborers and gardeners for the nearby white communities. Most of the houses were owned by the residents, although many of the deeds and records were lost and based on oral tradition rather than court house documents. There was a great deal of pride in home ownership, but even more despair brought on by poverty. The white neighbors could no longer afford household staff, and no one else was hiring. Thus, the people who lived in Linwood, so vital to the creation of that section of Atlanta, were abandoned and forgotten.

The children coming out of that neighborhood were amazing. I fell in love with all of them. It was the first time I experienced the wonder of a preschool child, and I was lucky enough to be able to introduce them to so much - to the zoo, to big, wide open parks, to books and art supplies and toys. And I was ashamed that I had been so oblivious to what was in my own backyard. Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, so reviled now, was in fact a huge success, and not just for the children of the poor.

There is so much left to be done to repair the damage done to our poor, and especially our poor of African-American heritage. But being able to vote for a black man, one of incredible talent and intelligence, felt very good to me. The fact that he is almost certain to win says something very powerful to me.

I hope you find time to vote - it's an important election.

posted by Lenore Wilson @ 11:25 PM