Irony

I'm reading a book, a memoir.  The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow.  Heard her on NPR last week.  Actually, it was John who called..."You have got to turn on NPR!"  Biracial stories are compelling to me and this one doesn't disappoint.  Danish mother, African American father.  Tragedy takes Heidi to live with her grandmother in Portland where more tragedy awaits her.

Tragedy followed by triumph.  Who wouldn't love this?  It's my story.  It's my kids' story.  They're Danish, too, although only a quarter. They say to me, "If a Republican takes over the White House, we're moving to Denmark."  NOOOOO...it's too cold!!

My father was Danish, my mother a true Southerner...but, to her credit, I did see her kick her father out of our house for using the N word. And that was long before I married outside my race.

When I announced that I was going to marry Kevin, my father didn't bat an eyelash.  He just never got why it was unacceptable.  But, there still are family members who have trouble being in the same room with me.  Once, we went to my aunt's house for Christmas brunch...my kids were only a year and 2 1/2.  No other family members came.

True Southern Christians...everyone of them.  Oh, they recite Bible verse after Bible verse.  But, where is the love?!  How is it that the Bible Belt is the most narrow-minded, hate-spewing area of the country?  The irony.  God bless my friend, Penny, who I grew up with who shares my world view but has the patience and courage to be a Methodist minister. She is my heroine.

I took the easy way out.  We took our kids to live in Columbia, Maryland, a planned community of mixed demographics.  All races and ethnic groups live side by side, attending the same schools...an experiment designed by James Rouse.  We wanted to live in a community where families looked like ours and the kids weren't gawked at every time they went out in public.  A community where the schools were among the best in the nation and diverse role models existed in every walk of life.

My kids loved growing up in Columbia.  They never experienced true segregation or discrimination like the 'colored' and 'white' water fountains or lunch counters or schools that were my history.  For this, I am grateful.

But, then, they just don't get how amazing it was that Barack Obama was elected the President of the United States.  They give him no slack.  To me, he's a genius.  To them, he's just a man.