On the eve of history

I realize it has been over 5 months since I last posted. Life has been crazy since I left Japan, and for some reason I haven't been inspired to start writing again, despite the fact that the adventures I am having now are just as fascinating and blog worthy as when I was traveling! Hopefully someday I'll get back in the habit of writing. For now, let me offer this:

On inauguration day tomorrow, I am assigning my students to write letters to US history students 50 years in the future, talking about the election of Barack Obama from their point of view. As an example, I wrote my own. So here it is:

January 19, 2009
To future students of American History:

I write this to you on the eve of the most important historical event I have witnessed during my lifetime, the inaguration of Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States. The year is 2009. I don’t know what year it will be when you are reading this, but I know that by the time you do, Barack Obama will have taken his rigthful place in the textbooks and museums of American history. What his legacy will be remains to be seen; I know the hopes pinned on him by people around the world are staggering. Many of my students expect that he will get assassinated, but I am far more optimistic than they are.
As a teacher of US history, I wonder what I can tell you, the future students, that can possibly convey the significance of this event for those of us that are living through it. I could list the facts – 2 million people are expected to attend the inaguration events (compared with the 300.000 that attended Bush’s inaguration), and another 2 million are expected to watch it on TV or the Internet. Many schools have declared a holiday, most work places will hold screenings for their employees, and tomorrow will be a day filled with countless inaguration celebrations across the world. It is like the whole country is putting everything else on pause to watch. And the world is watching with us.
Or I could tell you this – I am constantly challenged to explain to my students the importance of what we are studying, answering the question, “Why do we need to learn this?” But with Barack Obama, I don’t need to explain. They already know. And I expect that your teachers won’t have to try too hard to explain it to you – much like I don’t have to explain to my students the importance of learning about Abe Lincoln, or Gandhi, or Rosa Parks or MLK Jr. It seems that when it comes to the struggle for equality and human rights, everyone already knows why it matters.
Or perhaps I could tell you this - I am white. I went to a high school of mostly white and Asian students. My students now are almost all black or latino, and while being able to witness this event in their company makes it that much more powerful for me, I am still sadded and angered when I reflect on the reasons WHY it is like this. Forty-six years after Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed that “little black boys and little black girls would be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls as sisters and brothers,” the schools of America are still largely segregated. Its not legal anymore, yet it still happens. I wonder if your history books will lead you to believe that the USA in 2009 saw full racial equality? I wonder if the books will use the election of Barack Obama as evidence that we have achieved Dr. King’s dream? If they do, please allow me to correct them – the USA in 2009 does not enjoy true racial equality by any stretch of the imagination, and all of my students will tell you the same. We have come a long way since they days of slavery, but we still have a very, very long way to go. The election of President Obama is a HUGE step towards that dream, and I think that the overwhelming joy of the American people on the eve of his inaguration is all the evidence we need of how badly our country wants to see Dr. King’s vision achieved. I only hope that by the time you are reading this, the America you know will be much closer to the dream of true equality than we are now. Can we as a country ever really overcome our shameful history of slavery and segregation?
I think, in the words of Barack Obama, “Yes, we can!”

Warm Regards,
Nicole Morello
Social Studies Teacher
Oakland Aviation High School