Sojourners - February 22, 2009
Questions: What does the election of Barack Obama mean to you personally, and how does it challenge our work in racial justice at Sojourners? Are we too “comfortable” at Sojourners, given the fact that we “love’ everybody?
The election of Barack Obama means this to me personally.
HOPE. One of the best-loved campaign pictures, and my favorite, is the one in black and red on which is written, “HOPE.”
Hope for many things-but especially hope for change for the injustices and inequalities experienced by African-Americans since they were first brought here in chains.
As a little girl in racist Alabama, I wondered why we called our maid, “Susie”, instead of Mrs. Kemp. All polite southern children referred to anyone older than they as Mr., Mrs. or Miss.
I wondered why my dad rebuked me for saying, “Yes, Sir” to an elderly dignified man riding by our country home on a mule. Dad said, “Never call an N—– sir.”
I wondered why my black playmate called me Miss Dell but I referred to her without the “Miss”.
When I went to college in Chicago, I often wrote Susie, and I always addressed the envelopes, “Mrs. Susie Kemp.” Perhaps with the hope that someday she would be treated with the respect of her white peers.
You can imagine my thrill at being able to say “President Barack Obama” to a partly African-American.
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