Bob Herbert is a must-read today for many reasons. One part of it, however, really stands out:
I got a call on Friday from David Goodman, whose brother Andrew was one of three civil rights workers slain in the searing racial heat of Mississippi in 1964.
"It’s shocking, isn’t it?" he said of the election.
I agreed.
"It’s wonderful," he said.
For anyone who is remotely familiar w/ the abduction and murder of 3 civil rights workers in Philadelphia, MS in 1964, this quote truly stands out. While far too many people lost their lives so that all Americans could enjoy rights that are purportedly guaranteed by the Constitution, this lynching was of particular note.
For me, most of the past 28 years have been an ongoiing nightmare. When Reagan swept in a GOP tide in 1980, I was in a state of shock. When I saw him re-elected in a landslide 4 years later, I was numb. Seeing Dukakis turn a 15 point lead into a 15 point deficit was icing on the cake. The Clinton years, especially the last 6, were mostly disappointing. The past 8 years have made the Reagan Error look good by comparison.
As bad as those years have been for me, however, I never lost a sibling to the forces of darkness. My sufferings pale in comparison to those of David Goodman's. His comments, accordingly, offer truly profound perspective on this week's historic event.
It was moving to watch Jesse Jackson Sr. cry when Obama's victory become official. It was inspiring to see John Lewis interviewed in the immediate aftermath of that announcement. Anyone who was not affected by those scenes is badly in need of a heart transplant.
David Goodman's comments, however, really hit home. Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, "pre-emptive war" and all of the other horrors of the past 8 years have had a highly corrosive impact on the body politic. They have had many ill effects, but the worst effect of all has been their robbing us of a belief that things would ever be different. While, in hindsight, Kerry was a flawed candidate who ran a flawed campaign, the very idea that a majority of the electorate would ratify the crimes of the incumbent regime was very hard to swallow.
If David Goodman can see the wonder and the potential and the hope that is offered to us by Obama's victory, then I guess that I need to see it, too. If you had told me 6 mos ago that an AA Dem nominee would carry NC and IN, I would've suggested that you take swimming lessons w/ Lindsey Graham. While it was apparent all along that FL and VA were winnable states, history indicated that those former 2 states were utterly unattainable.
Think about it for a second. A state that elected Jesse Helms to the Senate 5 times voted for a black man for POTUS. That's a pretty profound statement as to where the country is now and where it can go in the future.
In the meantime, we should all raise a glass to the memories of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.