When I was in elementary school, there was always a class assembly on Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. We would learn about Rosa Parks and the bus boycott in Montgomery. We heard about segregation. And every year we listened to the famous "I had a Dream" speech.
In college I studied Feminism with a concentration on Movements, Policy, and Legal Studies. I engrossed myself in the writings of women scholars who taught about racism and sexism. I learned about privilege. I changed the lens through which I saw the world.
Today, I am sitting with my preschool son who doesn't understand that he will go through life with more privilege than some children just because of the color of his skin. I'm sitting here, on the eve of the most historical and profound inauguration of a President, hoping that my son will never understand privilege based on the color of skin. I sit next to my child, hopeful for the future. Hopeful for his future.
I know that tomorrow won't suddenly change the world. It can't undue this nation's history. It can't change the culture that has dark past rooted in hatred. But tomorrow will shine a new light. In the light, there is no darkness In the light, we can overcome.
I am filled with hope that Americans who have been marginalized and disenfranchised in their own country will be uplifted tomorrow. That we can start a new road, a new path, a new future. Where there could be a woman or Muslim or Native American in the highest office. Where such occurrence would no longer be a historical significance but an everyday occurrence. Where we truly would be judged by the content of our character.
