See the Bird With a Leaf in Her Mouth

I saw Barack Obama downtown Columbia on Friday morning. I know, he was here Thursday night, I saw him then too. But on Friday morning I went to Lee Elementary School's "America My Home" themed parade. The kids were encouraged to dress up in a way that displayed America their home, the suggestion was very open ended. More than one little African-American boy dressed up as Barack Obama and several kids wore Obama-themed outfits. The pride in their faces was evident.



I was wearing an Obama sticker with Obama's face on it, and I attracted a crowd of kids all trying to high five and show their enthusiasm. One little guy stood back and looked at my sticker, then looked at my face; then looked at my sticker, then looked at my face. We don't want these kids to see color, to feel different. But I'm sure at times they do, especially when it comes to power. And their pride was obvious in seeing a person of color in a position of real power.



I've read and heard that Obama rallies are diverse. Well, I live in a brightly diverse community and I've attended large political, cultural and sporting events here so I had no expectations Thursday night to even notice the diversity of the crowd. But as I looked at the 40,000 people around me, I was actually surprised at the range of age, culture, race, color, and income level around me. Not black and white, but every race and culture I could have imagined. Not in a carefully arranged mosaic, but in large groups and mixing together in a common purpose - to try to see from way back where we were!



It was an incredible experience, buoying my spirits and giving me encouragement for at least the moment that there are more of us that believe this diversity is America than there are those that fear our differences and see only an ever decreasing piece of "their" pie. And I got my wish. I got to yell "Yes We Can!"