America, we cannot turn back

by tamarjacobson

Quote of the day

"For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible."
Perhaps the words echo because I am a naturalized American, and I came here, like many others, seeking relief from Britain's subtle barriers of religion and class, and possibility broader than in Europe's confines.
Perhaps they resonate because, having South African parents, I spent part of my childhood in the land of apartheid, and so absorbed as an infant the humiliation of racial segregation, the fear and anger that are the harvest of hurt – just as they are in Obama's words, "the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow." Roger Cohen in the New York Times

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, I will vote for Barack Obama as a naturalized American who was born white in Africa, Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Although I am not considered an African American in the truly and deeply cultural meaning of that expression, I have always identified with the cause of freedom and social justice for all. And, like Roger Cohen, I spent my childhood absorbing the humiliation of racial segregation and the fear and anger that are the harvest of hurt. 

And so, on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, I will vote for Barack Obama for many reasons, among which, one is that, among the many pieces that make up who I am – I am also an "African" American.

A year ago at Mining Nuggets: Happy Halloween