new ground

While watching this morning's Inauguration Ceremony I think about the fact that only a handful of years prior to my birth, my parents' union would have been considered illegal across much of these United States. I recall a morning in 1980 as I walked to school with my brother wearing my Kelly green "The ERA is for my FUTURE" t-shirt when a grown man sneered at me, "You're future is fucked, girl". I can remember many firsts for Black Americans, mostly having to do with athletics and/or entertainment, and hearing my mother in the background, "See, [S]he's brown like you. That could be you one day."

This morning I watch as an exceptional American is sworn into the United States' Presidency. I watch his wife touch his neck as he takes in the events around him. His children chatter and smile excitedly in front of a nation and I am struck by their similarity to mine. I listen to his words and feel a sense of wonder that my third child will be born into a world that is vastly different from my parents' and mine.