The Mad Rants of an Unconventional Soccer Mom

In the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has.

Robert F. Kennedy, 1968

Jelly...Do you remember when we were kids and we watched as Canaryville was almost lit afire with hatred because CPS had decided to desegregate Graham Elementary and bus black children in from Hendricks?

There were news cameras everywhere as people protested and fought in the streets. The Horror of it all! Black children in our schools mixing with our precious white children! How would we ever survive! You would have thought in was 1960 in Alabama…not 1977 in Chicago.

Do you remember when a black man who dared to walk down Union Avenue jumped through Irma’s front window to try to escape from the mob that had tried to kill him? He wasn’t even considered human by those monsters. But back then, that was the norm for us growing up. What a shameful, shame full time.

Tonight, I look back at those dark times and I’m thankful that our country is moving forward. I am so proud tonight that the first Madam Speaker of the House of Representatives slammed down the gavel that officially nominated the first black candidate for president. I’ve been crying for hours! I know we’ve come a long way and we still have more to go, but man does tonight feel great! Hopefully in 8 years I’ll be sitting here crying as we nominate the first female candidate.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963