When the US Declaration of Independence was drawn up, it stated:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”
But George Washington, even as he signed this, was the owner of slaves. Clearly he could not have counted slaves in the category of “all men”
There was a time when non-whites were not allowed to vote as they were seen as less-than.
There was a time when women were not allowed to vote as they were seen as less-than.
What makes the election of Barrack Obama so important to us all, regardless of where we sit on the political spectrum, is the tremendous step forward it makes for “the normalcy of difference” – something so many of us, as parents of children with special needs, strive to promote.
Just because someone has a different colour skin, or is a different sex does not make them inferior – just different.
“Different” does not automatically mean worse; it just means different.
The greater the tolerance for difference in the world, the better it is for all of us as parents of children who are seen as different.
The election of Barrack Obama for President of the United States of America is a powerful statement of tolerance and acceptance.
Let us hope it feeds through to a wider understanding that diversity can be a good thing.
Kim is usually to be found at his own blog, Ramblings of the Bearded One. Although you will find tales about his daughter, Meg, under his “Down’s Syndrome” category, you’ll find far more simply under “Fatherhood“
Woooo Hooooo!
Well said and Woot, Woot!
WOOHOO!!!! Amen!
Well said! My husband and I are determined to raise our son that color is just color, we should not judge based on the color of someone’s skin, and differences can be a great thing. God made us all in his image and he does to make mistakes.
I meant not mistakes.
I’ve never understood why people find ‘difference’ to be such a problem being as none of are the same anyway. I like to think of myself as being totally unique, as are my special needs son, my two daughters, the rest of my family and all of my friends. Vive la difference!
Thanks for all your comments.
To judge someone by the colour of their skin is the same as to judge someone by the colour of their hair or the colour of their eyes. It is a bizarre thing when such a minor thing makes such a difference to the way people react.
Racism is dead so, Obama’s in and all us ‘liberals’ are happy.
Just imagine if McCain had won and we saw the following aspects of his campaign carried through:
- Continuation of the ‘war on terror’ including more troops into Afghanistan (back to the stone age not enough) and promises to cross borders (invade) others if they ‘don’t comply’ – ie invade Iran and Pakistan.
- a promise to take intervention in latin America “further south” ie ‘deal with’ Venezuela and Bolivia
- national/single payer healthcare completely off the table.
- full support of the Cuba embargo
- refusing to be photographed with the mayor of SF so not to appear as supporting same sex unions.
- commitment to draconian immigration policies such as the mexico border wall.
- penal system and capital punishment off the table as is gun control
- 700 billion handout to companies who preach no nationalization and private competition
… hey ..oh ..wait a minute … my mistake! That’s a list of OBAMA’S campaign – I got confused.
I really wish racism was dead but I think when I look around the state I live in which I will not name I know it is not. My state was polled on whether race would be a factor on who you would vote. I was upset when it said 80% said yes race would be. Yes I voted for Obama but that was after researching both candidates on truths and not rumors. I found Obama to be best candidate. I hope this country can unite no matter your vote and work together to bring us back to respectability.
I just don’t have the same enthusiasm the rest of you do because Obama’s policies scare the living daylights out of me. One of the first things Obama will do when he becomes president is reverse all of President Bush’s Executive Orders, particularly the ones regarding abortion. He will reverse the EO that bans the use of federal money for abortions on demand, not just in the US, but all over the world. Millions of unborn babies will die for what you call progress. This doesn’t sound like progress to me. How about looking past his skin color and taking a look at the man.
Whatever!
The nation (and dare I say the world) is bigger than one issue. I can appreciate that you find abortion to be murder, but frankly, we have hundreds of issues to think about not just abortion.
Oh, and many many people believe that abortion is wrong, but do not feel that it is the government’s responsibility to legislate morality and/or religion. (Sorry to Kim for hijacking the topic)
On topic, I think it’s great that people are inspired by the circumstances and implications of Obama’s victory, but I’m finding the overall attention to race/color to be a little much. He was voted (I hope) based on his character, leadership ability, overall policy outlook, and the direction he wants to take our nation. Let’s focus on that, please. His color is very low on the importance scale right now.
Thanks!
It’s great to see the conversation still going on here over a week later.
The point I wanted to make with this post was not that I felt the world was all perfect now that Obama has been voted in. Whether people feel good or bad about his policies – both in the US and globally – is a point for plenty of debate.
However, regardless of everything else, and regardless of anyone’s political stance, in one particular way, it helps battle the idea that different is necessarily bad.
And in a culture of Barbie-doll beauty supremacy, that’s got to be a good thing
Happykat,
I don’t think abortion is the only issue of importance. Besides, since we’re all moms of special needs children, and I’m assuming you are since you’re commenting here, I figured abortion would be a fairly important issue here, which is why I brought it up. I’m sure most here already know that 90% of all pregnant women who receive the diagnosis of Down Syndrome abort their babies. But there are a lot of other issues that Obama is flat wrong on, such as taxes, the economy, the military, national defense, and many others. That means more to me than his skin color. No one should be president simply because of his skin color.