A historic week it was indeed.  Regardless of your politics, you couldn’t help but be moved by the symbolism of the first person of color becoming president.  Were the campaign to have worked out differently, it could have been about the first woman in office and the symbolism and historic impact would have been just as great.  But what was fascinating to watch was my children and their friends be less impressed by the enormity of either of those scenarios than their parents.  And in an odd way, that is symbolic too.  My children and their friends understand it is a historic first.  And, yes, having learned about the civil rights movement and Rosa Parks and Dr. King, they theoretically understand that the United States was once quite different than it is right now.  But, they don’t really get how enormous it truly is. 

In our school system, parents are encouraged to teach music in the classroom to supplement the music the children get as part of the regular curriculum.  Back when my eldest son was in 2nd grade (about 5 years ago), I was asked if I could approach music in the classroom with an eye toward celebrating the end of Black History month and the beginning of Women’s History month — so I combined music with  discussion that began with Duke Ellington and ended with Aretha.  We talked to the kids about how difficult it was for Black musicians to get club dates or hotel rooms when they traveled.  We talked about how women earned so much less than men.  We played music and ended with a rousing, chairs as drums, performance of RESPECT that resulted in the teacher across the hall chastising us all!  As fun as all that was, the best was the moment when one of the little girls, full of righteous indignation upon hearing how tough things were for Duke and other Black musicians as well as women who sought equality, stood up on her chair and said “What do we do about this?!?”  At the time I said, “we’re still working on it.”

My kids and their friends know women who are CEOs and earn more than many of the men around them.  They have a neighbor who started the first black-owned investment bank.  Their friends are boys and girls of many races, nationalities, religions and genders.  They also know white women who clean homes for a living and white men who are landscapers and handymen.    It is as natural for them to assume success for a person of color as it is for them to assume success for themselves.  And, that is wonderful.  And, it is not how it is everywhere.  But it is certainly much better than how it was when I was a child.

The big historic moment is wonderful and worthy of celebration and reflection.   But the little steps…those that got most of our children to take the election of a person of color to the highest office in our nation as part of the natural order…are worthy of reflection and celebration too.