What is There Left to Say?

This morning, I learned from my sister that my niece, who is a student at the University of Florida, had made a last minute trip to D.C. I think that there was a lot of that going on. During the last week, it is as if a giant magnet were at the Capitol, drawing us all there. Watching the ceremony today, it was so clearly a national day of celebration. We celebrated the peaceful transition of power, Obama's calm in the face of tremendous crises, the look on Sen. John Lewis' face when Obama greeted him on his way to his seat on the podium, and the sea of diverse humanity that stood in the freezing cold to welcome this new day. President Obama is fond of saying that it is not about him, and he is right. My favorite metaphor of the last several days was in his speech on Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial. It is not the stones of the monuments that gives him hope, it is what lies between- you and me. If we want things to be better, change is all about us and our choices. There is much work to be done, but there is, again, hope. I am so elated to have, for once, and event that glued millions of Americans to a television that was not an attack or a natural disaster. God bless you, President Obama. We are with you.

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Alternative (Reality) School

I am stunned that Bibb County Public Schools will bow to the complaints of a few parents and offer an "alternative educational activity" for children whose parents do not want them to watch Obama's historic swearing in and inaugural address on Tuesday. Apparently, these parents argue that this is not "an educational activity." Given the singularly historic nature of the occasion, that ridiculous assertion hardly deserves a response, especially given the history at one of the schools where the complaints emerged, Carter Elementary. Earlier, Carter had a "Polar Express Day" that involved children dressing in pj's and watching the film. That activity generated no newspaper articles or complaints from parents about misuse of "valuable educational time" and no demands for an "alternative educational activity."

There is something wrong with allowing a few parents to require that the school system facilitate children missing what arguably marks the greatest cultural shift of our lifetime. To those who would argue that this is a "political event," I would remind them that Obama is our President now- all of us.

I am left with two questions:

1) Were any of the parents who complained black?

2) If the answer to that question is "no", as I suspect it is, then, the reality of what will happen here on Tuesday is that a few white children, whose parents chose for them, will opt out of history by exiting classrooms before the swearing in is broadcast to the rest. Are we really fine with that?

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