Sunday, January 18, 2009

Janelle

When I was a little girl, growing up in a suburb of Baltimore called Towson, I had lots of little friends. Today Janelle came to mind. Janelle was one of my favorite friends and she was black. I remember clearly that when we visited each others houses we were always escorted by my mother or her grandmother. There was some particular line, going into each others neighborhoods, we didn't cross it without having an adult with us. This was 1962 or 63. (I know, I'm old) Little white girls didn't go to Janelle's neighborhood and little black girls didn't go to mine without an adult. I'm not sure we actually knew why, but we knew those were the rules.

Thinking about the coming inauguration and Dr. Martin Luther King...I am so happy that if it were today, Janelle and I could be friends without escort, without fear. There has been some progress and progress is good.

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