My three girls are going to join the onrushing current of human history at such a propitious moment. I listened on NPR this morning to a piece on the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of African-American History, which is set to open in 2015, and I thought, "The girls will be six, we can go there to see it together." I am thrilled that they have the chance to see, learn about, and begin the process of understanding that our country was founded on slavery as a central economic, social, cultural and psychological institution, and that we have as a country worked to overcome this heritage and change ourselves into a nation of peoples. The news is full of stories about Obama's upcoming inauguration (as it is also full of news about Bernie Madoff's world-historical fraud, about massive layoffs, the moribund state of the Detroit-based auto industry, the bloodshed in Gaza, the nuclear arms race in Iran, the natural gas battles between Ukraine and Russia, and on and on). What a moment in our history to join in.
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