Reply #2: Thank you...

[mentalsolstice]

...this is such a tough issue, because my husband is such a sweety.

For 30 years he worked, doggedly, for the city of Birmingham, Al. He is proud of its civil rights history, and whatever he contributed to it, however, minor. It's history, nonetheless, and it is important in our nation's fabric. Speaking for myself, as his wife, I am ecstatic, and in awe, whatever, of being able to meet leaders such as Richard Arrington, Rev. Shuttlesworth, and others who knew Martin Luther King personally! My 15 minutes of fame was attending an opening for a nursing home for minorities (which my spouse helped with the zoning issues), and getting up close and personal with the surviving members of the civil rights movement. Sitting front row, in the audience, will be a memory I'll always keep. I met men that day that marched arm-in-arm with MLK, Jr. I can't think of anything, at this point in my life, I'm 46, to compare with that. Many of the men I shook hands with that day had met with JFK and RFK, and they had marched with MLK. Oh friggin god, I was really in the presence of history that day.

Yet, my FiL, he is ashamed of "those" contacts. He always acts like he is ashamed that my spouse worked for an African-American mayor (well, he served a 20 year term)...