Thoughts on yesterday

This morning I received an email, forwarded to my by my mother. It was written by my sister, who has two middle-school aged children who also happen to be bi-racial just like President Obama. Here is what she wrote (with a few minor edits to redact some names for the sake of privacy):

I found myself recalling my first vivid memory of the world..............the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr...........I was so young it did not grasp why you were crying.

I never imagined my children would be brown but it was monumental to celebrate the growth of America as a whole this day............to tell my children to let this inspire them to pursue their dreams and desires and rejoice in knowing that our country has grown and has the ability to judge them by the content of their character.

I thought today of [their paternal grandmother].............how she threw down her hoe in the sharecroppers field at 12 and fled to Philadelphia in search of freedom.
I also thought of our ancestors who fought in the Confederate Army to preserve slavery.

Of [an african american boy] who though I tried to befriend him in the seventh grade point blank told me that I should not talk to him because it just wasn't right.

What a long journey it has been to arrive at this day.

Thank you for instilling in me the desire to seek and find truth.