My Dad may have been right.

I was thinking of an argument that my father and I had back when I was a teenager. I was listening to the song "Eve of Destruction" for the umpteenth time, when he told me how much he hated that song and how untrue it was. He thought it was a terrible message -- that this country was moving towards disaster. I, on the other hand, thought it was absolutely the truth. I really believed humanity would be lost forever in my lifetime. A good part of that had to do with the anger and uncertainty of the times, and a good deal of that had to do with racism.

But I didn't know what to do about it. I didn't understand the anger that was directed at me as I walked from the subway to school at Eastern Parkway/Crown Heights, or the resentment I felt when I walked those few blocks with trepidation and anxiety; I didn't know why I was friends with the African-American girls on my basketball team during practice, but we never sat together in class or at lunch. I don't think any of us knew how to vault the chasm that was between us. We were all just angry and scared. A good part of that was due to the vastly divergent opinions of whether the Civil Rights movement was necessary and to the rascist remarks we heard as a result.

Tomorrow is an amazing day. I lived in a time when the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. resulted in so much anger and outrage that none of us were allowed to leave high school that day until one of our parents picked us up, and I am living in a time when a person of color will lead our entire country.

We're celebrating something that I would never have imagined in my lifetime -- an African-American president! In no way do I think racism is over, but I am beginning to see the lines blurred, and I like that very much.

Happy Inauguration Day, America!