Words From My Mother

I got this in an email from my mom this morning. It doesn't matter how you voted, it's a great day in history for everyone! Here's my mom's email:

"Well, it's quite a day and as I was thinking about everything, I felt pretty emotional. And here's why….

In my lifetime I have seen a lot happen. I remember:

White and colored drinking fountains and bathrooms.

Mother being in trouble with the neighbors because she would let our maid in the front door.
Neighbors said she was ruining it for all of them because they would all want to be let in through the front door.

Our yard man, Mr. Johnson, who would knock on the back door and ask for a drink of water and then stepping back down the steps to wait in the yard for his drink. He would tell me that, "I knows my place." I was about 10-11 and I just couldn't understand exactly what that meant.

I rode the bus to work in downtown Fort Worth in my early twenties and, if the bus was full and more White people got on, the bus driver got up and told the Blacks to move to the back of the bus where they had to stand. Even pregnant Black ladies were made to move to the back and often had to stand while riding the bus.

I remember Martin Luther King and the awful, but brave and courageous struggle he and others waged for a better life for all people.

I remember the march through Selma, Alabama, and the other marches that he and others led. Do you suppose that God would let Dr. King know this part of the dream?

Four young men went into Woolworth's to try to get served at the lunch counter.

Miss Parks did NOT move to the back of the bus and she went to jail.

A little Black girl walked through an angry, hate-filled crowd to go to school in Alabama.

Whites and Blacks lost their lives in the struggle to sign Blacks up for better housing.

Poll taxes were put in place to keep Black people from voting because they could not afford to pay it.

I was moved to see the tears of Jessie Jackson and others who know the struggle from the inside out.

But what really moved me is that Shanna was able to take her girls with her while she voted and she was there to answer their questions about the vote for President. Someday, they will vote and they won't have to walk through an angry crowd or pay a Poll Tax -- it's their right to vote. A lot of people paid the price and I am so proud she is instilling in them about the importance of their vote and that it will count!

I wish I were more eloquent, but it's a proud moment in our history.

Love, Mom"

Amen to that, Mom. How neat to be a witness to history!