My Inauguration Day Speech, Rough Draft

[browngirl]

Holy cats and kittens, the school where I work has asked me to give a speech during our Inauguration Day festivities. I admit, 1% of me has some sarcastic thoughts along the lines of being the Official Black Correspondent, but the other 98% of me is flattered, excited, and nervous, and delighted that they want to hear what I have to say. (And there's the 1% that would rather be home asleep. There's always that 1%.)

So, here goes. Second draft, still rough.

So, I voted for President Obama, as you might have guessed, but not becausehe's Black. No, really. I didn't vote for him because he's Black, or rather, mixed race with one Black parent. I voted for him because I agree with more of his policies than any other candidate's, and because he actually inspired me to believe in him and to hope for this country's future. For your future, for our future.

However.

There was always this unspoken common knowledge that Black people were permitted to make it so far and no further. How far that is has changed in my lifetime, let alone in the last century, but still, people from certain groups were just disqualified by being who they are from being the person in charge, whether of a TV show's cast or President of the United States.

At last, being Black, not being White, has ceased to be one of those unfair, unspoken disqualifications. I don't have to say of Obama, as I've had to say of people in the past, "it would have been so nice to vote for him but of course he'd never be nominated let alone elected." I wasn't denied the opportunity to vote for the candidate I wanted most, because he wasn't denied the opportunity to present himself as a candidate. That's momentous, that's historic, and I honestly hadn't expected to see it until I was old, if I ever saw it within my lifetime.

And I feel that each barrier falling makes others more likely to fall. I know a lot of people felt about Hilary Clinton as I do about Barack Obama, that they were not happy to not be able to vote for her. But I think that, just like it was momentous when people realized the President could be a Catholic unlike all his predecessors, that it's momentous to see that the President can be not White unlike all his predecessors, that this makes it more likely that a future President could be female unlike all her predecessors, too.

Comments

[lomedet.livejournal.com]

you just put tears in my eyes. seriously.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

*long applause* I think I'll be in tears most of Tuesday!

[gingicat]

I think you should put something in about your own experience as the child of immigrants, pushed to major in something you weren't interested in and ending up in a job which was not your first choice. Remember, this is a school thing, it has to have a moral. :)

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Agree totally, as you list your own experience, you should also mention that you, yourself are an example. You've got a X degree in Y from where, and here you find yourself giving a talk about Obama's inaguration. You should be proud of the education you have. If you don't mention in your talk what degree(s) you have, people may just assume you dropped out of high school or something. Heck, you will likely end up with more respect from everyone after this talk (you will anyway, but it will stick with people when they're impressed by your background).

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

I agree with this - it's also a good way to show the kids that just because someone is a "secretary" doesn't' mean that they're not well educated.

[ceo]

Maybe clarify that the job that was not her first choice is not her current one. :-)

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

A fine speech.

[ckd]

Just after Christmas I listening to music from my iPod, and the Schoolhouse Rock song "The Great American Melting Pot"[1] started playing.

As I listened to it, I started to cry. I hadn't heard the song since the election, and lyrics like "it doesn't matter what your skin" and "so any kid can be the President" really mean something for the first time since I first encountered the song as a kid.

[1] Yes, I know there are huge issues of cultural assimilation/expectation there, but for a kids TV song from the 1970s it's still pretty progressive. Schoolhouse Rock is generally ahead of its time; the major exception is "Elbow Room", which is whole-heartedly in favor of "Manifest Destiny" and ignores little details like the dispossession of Native Americans. (Bletch.)

[chillyrodent.livejournal.com]

How great! Listen to your 98%. You've been invited because you have something unique, of value, to offer.

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

My daughter will never know a time when only white guys were President. This is AWESOME.

[brownbetty]

Also, Senior Black Correspondent! See if that gets you a pay raise or a better office.

Your speech looks good. \o/

[ailbhe]

I have a postcard to Malia and Sasha Obama sitting on my dining table waiting to be posted. It says I'm very pleased that theirs will be the first First Family of the USA that my kids will remember. (It also says we look forward to seeing them on YouTube, rollerskating through the corridors of power).

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely!

[flabosib.livejournal.com]

Wow! You write very well and I think the students will learn something. (that whole school and moral thingy).

It is going to be an awesome and awful (in the original meaning of "full of awe") day tomorrow. Wow.

[baranduin.livejournal.com]

This gave me shivers.

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Good speech!

[poltr1]

Good draft. Add the suggestions that koshmom suggested and you'll have a great speech!

[sophinisba]

I worked for a school for six months where oh maybe a quarter of the students were black or Latino and none of the teachers were. The only two people of color on staff were the school nurse and the...is police liaison a title people have at a middle school? Anyway, it was a very frustrating situation but my friends and I (white girls in jobs that should have been filled by Latinos omg) did think it would cool that they would feature these two people at school assemblies so the kids knew they were an important part of their school. So! Go you, Senior Black Correspondent! And as Betty says you should see if you can get a raise for that. :)

I love your speech! I love that this is happening in our country!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

*applause*

I like it so far.

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

I say so far because I know you aren't done with it. I forseee more polish coming, and yet more substance, and I look forward to the final version, which I hope you post separately!