The Inauguration

I took a vacation day today to stay home to watch the Inauguration (I also learned how to spell the word 'Inauguration' thanks to Google).

I have been kind of holding my breath since President Obama was elected wondering if this was really going to happen. I am a child of the 60s. I guess I don't have to say much more than that.

Back in 1988, I was the Democratic precinct chair in Euless Texas. It was the only time in my life that I had my name on an election ballot, but I ran unopposed. There were not a lot of Democrats in my area.

Anyhow, one of my duties as precinct chair was to run the Democratic party primaries. Here in Texas that also included the responsibility of running the caucus after the polls were closed. In order to participate in the caucus, one had to vote earlier that day in the primary election. This was before early voting of course.

The caucus was intimate to say the least, but we did have enough people to select two delegates to the county convention. We decided that we would cast our two votes for the Rev Jessie Jackson. At the time, he actually had some serious traction, though no one thought he would get the nomination though I think he would have made a better candidate than Dukakis. For more information on that primary, check out Wikipedia at this link. Looking at the election map, Jackson actually did much better than I remembered.

Last year I voted for Senator Clinton in the Texas primary (I have a terrible track record) but was very happy to cast my vote for then Senator Obama last November. I am very happy that I lived long enough to see a person of color as president of the United States of America.

I grew up in Utah in the 1950s and most of the 1960s. I don't even think I knew any black people. It has been quite a journey for me and a lot of other people from my generation and the generations before me. I grew up when segregation was a fact of life in many parts of the country, became conscious of race problems in the 196os, and now I have lived long enough to see in inauguration of President Obama.