I, Too, am America
What an amazing weekend it has been, and it’s only half over! First, the country witnessed the presidential inauguration on Friday. All politics aside, it is a touchstone event in our nation’s history. I haven’t missed viewing an inauguration since Carter (it is within the realm of possibility that I saw Nixon and Johnson’s, too) Anyway, /while I was waiting at the gate at the airport, I was able to catch the vice presidential and presidential oaths of office before boarding my flight to Atlanta. Being able to And, as per usual, there were plenty of librarians on the plane. Oh, and Packers fans. Lots of Packers fans. Someone said something about a football game on Sunday.
This afternoon, I had the opportunity to ride the train. It is probably can best be described as an adventure (or at least fodder for an amazing story) The shuttles were halted due to the Atlanta March for Social Justice & Women. Some of you may have participated, and I’m sure many of you noticed the pink hats being worn in the convention center and in the streets. The station platform quickly filled up with marchers. Sardines probably have more room in a can than we did on the train this afternoon. In spite of the crowded conditions, there was an air of hope, solidarity, and earnestness. It made me think of the Langston Hughes poem “I, Too”.
Officials are estimating 60,000+ people participated in the Atlanta march. It was really moving to see all of the many kinds of people who marched. I saw senior citizen couples, young parents with babies in strollers, teenage girls, multi-generational family groups with grandmothers, mothers and daughters, fathers, millennials and Gen Xers. It took my breath away to be witness to this moment in history. I, too, am America.
fran
A powerful day. It seems we have returned to the social activism of the 60s. It would be an educative experience for a bored and inane nation consumed with the utter trivia of reality TV and the mind-boggling omniscient Kardasian.