I did not set out Tuesday to coordinate the inauguration of America’s first African-American president with lunch with an African-American friend; that is just the way it worked out. I’m glad it did, however.
My friend James grew up riding in the back of the bus and going to segregated schools and being refused pain killer for dental work. So it was a bit surreal to sit there with him at a restaurant while the TV screens around us showed scenes of the inaugural events.
As we were eating, James received a text which he showed me. The texter claimed to know why it was so cold all across the country. It was because, he said, that it had been so often claimed that ‘it would be a cold day in Hell when a black man became president’.
We shared a laugh with our pizza.
Gail and Keith
What a wonderful, proud day it was!