Has the torch been passed? I am getting hopeful here..

[SoCalDem]

That said, I am a white 58 year old woman, so maybe I am missing something.

I saw it with my own kids, but I attributed it to the color-blind upbringing we gave them..

My youngest son's first real girlfriend was a young girl with a Black Mother and a Japanese Dad.. In May he is marrying a girl whose Father was born in Mexico and who picked cotton as a young man in the San Joaquin Valley. His future mother in law did not learn English until she was a teenager.


All I see in the "parsing" of politics, is the "groups" and who they support, or who they do not support.

Some people (there's that phrase again:eyes:..) say that white men will not vote for a black man or that Hispanic people will not vote for a black person or that "older women" will only vote for this one or that one.

If what we are seeing is what I think we are seeing, just maybe people have moved beyond that narrowminded groupthink.

There will always be a hardcore bigoted bunch of yahoos scattered here and there who will not see what is happening, but for the most part, I think we may be getting somewhere.

What made it happen?

I hate to think this might be it, but it just MAY be sports.. :rofl:

Think about it..

Kids idolize sports people..no matter what color they are..no matter what language they speak, no matter where they were born..

Young kids play on sports teams with kids of every ethnic group.

Technically, school integration started the ball rolling, but until kids accepted each other as true equals (often as teammates who counted on each other to win games), there was still resistance.

When kids play together and make friends, they hang out together, their parents sit on the sidelines and cheer for each other's kids..

They shop together, they travel together, meet each other's families...and once the "otherness" barriers come down, they date and marry each other.

A natural consequence of this is the fact that MANY white people of my age group have mixed-race grandchildren. It takes a cold hearted person to continue to hate and fear, when they transfer those feelings to THEIR grand children and sons & daughters-in-law.

When people only think ONE way for a long time, it's hard to see a gradual change, but I find it deliciously ironic, that those little kids who had to have the military to help them even get inside of a "white school" were just the bud, of a flower that seems to be in full bloom...

I'm happy to be around to see it..no matter how much "fertilizer" it took to grow that thing:)

[livetohike]

1. I agree SoCalDem

and as one who sadly witnessed a KKK cross burning on a lawn of one of my students homes in SC thirty years ago,....... this is miraculous.

[SoCalDem]

15. I grew up on Air Force bases and never lived with overt racism

but sadly, some of my stateside (Kansas) family disappointed me..

My own mother asked "What IS she?" when she saw a pictures of my son & his little girlfriend.. His answer? "My GIRLFRIEND & her name is Miyoko, Grandma"

[shanti]

29. hey, socaldem!

:hi: from one air force brat to another! military brats HAVE to be around people of all kinds and learn to accept them, no getting around it. it's a different upbringing, imo.

[spanone]

2. me too SCD.....

[babylonsister]

3. I'm so hopeful, too. This would renew some faith in my fellow

Americans, that they can get past race and vote with their heads and hearts. It's turning into a beautiful thing!

[Kahuna]

19. We shall overcome! It is finally becoming real. "We" meaning all of

us as Americans.

[Diane R]

4. Thank you for a beautiful thread. Our children's generation is (thankfully), colorblind.

I love this younger generation. I'm a 58 year old woman, too, it was important to me that my children didn't limit their choice in friends to just one race.

My oldest son is engaged to a fabulous girl (she's a pediatrician)who is mixed race and was born in the Phillipines. My middle son's girlfriend spent her childhood with her mother who did community development in India, Africa, Korea, ....all around the world. My youngest son's sweetheart was born in Russia and came to the U.S. when she was four.

I am so excited that my sons found these girls who were born in far flung countries around the world.

I think this is why the younger generation has embraced Obama. He represents the world view that the all celebrate.

We are living in exciting times.

[SoCalDem]

11. and apparently as the old coots die off, it might get even better

until we are all a pleasing shade of tan :)

[blm]

5. Same here. And what do you think other continents are thinking? That's 1/2 the foreign policy

battle right there.

[SoCalDem]

10. I'm thinking they are hopeful, but they have seen us stumble many times lately.

Only time will tell :)

[Cleita]

6. The most bigoted people I ever met in my life were the parents

of my best friend in high school. Well when one of their daughters married a Mexican American, they refused to attend her wedding. Then a second daughter married a Mexican American. By that time they had softened because daughter #1 was giving them granchildren. So like you said the grandchildren will make a difference. They're dead now but went to their graves with a large and integrated family burying them.

[SoCalDem]

24. Minds can be changed, but it sometimes takes a generation

That's why it's so scary to think that we might miss this chance..The last one was taken away from us brutally, but we are more connected now, through the internet, so perhaps we can hang on just tight enough to hold it, without crushing it..

[Lisa0825]

7. What a beautiful post!!!

One of the reasons Obama won me over is that I have felt so hopeful about race relations. I was very unsure of that aspect at first, but it has been really beautiful seeing the mix of races, ages, genders, etc at the few events I have gone to. And the more wins he scored, the more hopeful I have become that maybe we really are seeing a transformative moment in the life of this country.

[SoCalDem]

8. Thanks.. I am really hopeful..no matter how it all turns out..

Just the fact that people seem to be fearing each other less, and sharing more..makes me happy :)

[opihimoimoi]

9. Beautiful, well timed thread....those Flowers bloomed and now cast millions of SeedS everywhere

:toast:

[The River]

12. Same Stats, Different Gender

here and I too remember the last time the "torch was passed".
JFK's too brief a term was the last time of real generational hope and change.

As a species we grow in generational leaps. 4 years doesn't change much.
40 years does. A full generation has passed. Our kids have kids.
They deserve a better world than this.
It's time for the old "cold warriors on the right" to retire once and for all.

I hope Obama can really continue what Kennedy started.

[SoCalDem]

13. I really think this is what's happening..people OUR age are looking back

and seeing what "could have been".. We want that for OUR kids..and apparently we all want it at the same time ...

a convergence of positive energy like we have not seen in a long time :)

[JuniperLea]

14. My oldest laughed uncontrollably... literally rofl...

When I explained that the movie he was watching about the old south showed separate restrooms and drinking fountains because some people thought black people weren't equal... in fact, the US Army said they were a sub-species...

My kid rolled on the floor laughing, saying... that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!

I smiled a big smile that day.

My middle kid is dating a girl who is half German and half Mexican... and she loves it when I buy her funny Latina t-shirts...

My youngest, a daughter, had her first crush on a young black kid... her second on a Latino...

We're talking Irish and Swedish kids here... blond and blue eyed... with a couple of grandparents who put Archie Bunker to shame in the bigotry area... our house always looked like the UN after school.

It's getting a lot better, but racism won't die completely until we stop it completely. We need to stop dividing ourselves... stop counting the number of black vs. white votes... stop the division all over. Do not allow racism and do not give the world tools to keep us divided...

Edited to say I never fill in the "caucasian" or "white" box on those school cards either... Celtic... Anglo-Saxon... Viking... Druid... anything but race. I'm sure I drove some administrators nutty:)

[SoCalDem]

17. Our house was that way too..

Our neighbor Josh, always called me "Moms"..(he was a latchkey kid) and came to OUR house before he went home.. When we would go out, he often came with us and people asked if he was our foster child.. Our answer..nope just our son's best friend..


He stopped by recently to show me his little baby, Malcolm..

[JuniperLea]

22. Nice:)

I had a couple of "kids" like that too... Ilayis... I took him to a company picnic and told everyone he was my kid... he loved it:) His mom was shocked when I told her what a great son she had... she looked at me like I had lobsters growing out of my ears... I don't think she had much contact with white women, according to her son anyway. The funny thing is, I got after him when he made a mess or picked on another kid, or any of the things I got after my own about. He loved that... said it made him feel loved:)

[malaise]

16. Sport and music

but most importantly your kids are the way they are thanks to you. Children live what they learn.

Lovely post.

[Kahuna]

18. It's about damned time. Isn't it? A lot of people don't understand

the significance of an Obama presidency. The significance is, it will put and end to the civil war that the south seems to want to continue to fight once and for all. I will make us once people. FINALLY!!!

[SoCalDem]

21. That's what makes me so CRAZY about the "her vs him" folks

This is BIGGER than either of them or even BOTH of them..

We have a moment in time here..

Her candidacy is so "predictable", "contrived", "planned", "inevitable"..

His is like Kismet.. It's a transcendant, ephemeral thing.. I doubt that he decided to run, much before he actually did it..and even then, he probably thought it would never work..

It's reminiscent of our brushfires out here... One spark is all it takes sometimes..

All the careful preparation and all the millions of dollars worth of fire prevention are sometimes not enough to handle what that one spark started.

One is destructive, but this one may just be the most productive thing to happen in a long time.

[Eurobabe]

20. Those GD libruls and their multiculturalism

:rofl: :rofl:

w00t!

It's about freakin' time, eh?

[SoCalDem]

23. Yup.. we're funny that way, aren't we ? n/t

[VotesForWomen]

25. may we conclude that it's not being passed to women? nt

[casus belli]

26. More victim-think n/t

[SoCalDem]

27. When you go to your closet every morning..

and you pick the yellow shirt and brown slacks..does that mean that you now HATE the blue shirt and beige slacks?

[Ichingcarpenter]

30. False Dichotomy anyway

that doesn't address the point of the torch being passed to the youth


Listen we have the greatest reason to celebrate
A woman and a person of mixed race both have chance to be the next POTUS

After listening to Michel Obama speak, I think women have nothing to worry about
their voice being heard.

[Ichingcarpenter]

28. They found their person that they haven't seen in years

Kerry never had it, Gore only found it lately, Clinton had it 20 years ago.

Bobby Kennedy was the last one that had it for me.


The youth are our future, we are the caretakers of the past,
You and I for years have said where our the youth.

They are there for him, Edwards and Dennis who we wanted
never had that spark to light the torch. Many youth wanted Gore
who also awoke a planet with his live earth concert. Many would
have jumped on his wagon if he would have run

Hopefully the torch is past and they carry it well.

Great Post BTW.

[Subdivisions]

31. I see part of what you think you're seeing right in my own home.

I have five step-children. The oldest is 22 and the youngest just turned 17. The are all 1/2 Mexican - 1/2 Caucasian. They all grew up around black folks and latino folks and they are full-fledged members of the Rap/Hip-Hop Generation. They aren't much into politics - most thinking a black man would never be voted president. One of my two step-daughters thinks he's hot! She also happens to have just become engaged to a young black man for whom I would kill to keep him safe.

I, a middle-aged white guy, was raised in the late '60s and early '70s on the heels of the life of a man my mother very much admired. That man was Martin Luther King. I was born one year after Mr. King gave "the speech" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And Mom and Dad were right in the thick of it too. Dad having been a helicopter mechanic in Vietnam and Mom being the liberal hippie figure with a keen interest in MLK as well as being wrapped-up in the whole Camelot thing. I can remember mother screaming at the television and weeping when MLK was assasinated. By that time, she had taught me many quotes by him. No conversation in her house would ever mention the color of someone's skin as an element of discussion. The mother of my five step-children feels the same way.

I think that a little of what Mr. King had to say touched alot of us in my age bracket and I think that we have passed that down to our children. Sure, there are still knuckle-draggin', mouth-breathin' neanderthals, repiglicans, and rebelious rednecks out there but most of us get it. And, I don't know about your kids, but mine all love rap, hip-hop, blues, latino, tejano and rock-n-roll. And you're spot-on, SCD, about sports. They love people and they love culture. And they don't even realize it. And since they just happen to have someone they can relate to and admire running for president, they are coming out in droves to flex their newfound rights as citizens able to vote for their generation's version of Martin Luther King.

[Ichingcarpenter]

32. My kids are the same way

My daughter went to school where she was the only white girl
in her class, she released me from whatever latent racism I had left over
from my prejudicial father's rantings who I fought against constantly during that time.

My mother was better she took me to see MLK.

[leftofthedial]

33. I don't know. Has the past been torched?

:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

34. Unfortunately it has.. That's what's brought us to this moment. n/t

[leftofthedial]

36. I grew up mostly as a minority (anglo in a mostly hispanic culture)

I also was an Air Force brat and I recall no overt racism growing up.

I do remember my grandparents' generation commonly using what we now consider to be racial epithets, but I sincerely don't believe they intended any malice. I think they just didn't know any better.

Throughout my life I've played sports and music. Consequently perhaps, my personal world seems to be mostly color blind although I do encounter way too much anti-hispanic discrimination in the general public hereabouts.

My kids totally don't even register "racial" groups I don't think.

[Ichingcarpenter]

35. For people from our generation you must see this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4569050

[SoCalDem]

37. It's a DOUBLE-Platinum DUzy Extraordinaire

:rofl: