INAUGURATION DAY LETTER

Hello Friends! As I write this here in cold, cold Sweden, I'm glued to the inauguration day ceremonies on CNN. I was inspired to write a letter to my children and grandchildren to define what this day means to me - as a person who recalls the terrible strife on the part of black Americans to achieve their rights, and a an American living in Europe and working in Africa.

Here is that letter:

January 20, 2009
Barak Obama’s Inauguration Day

My Dearest Children and Grandchildren (for you to print and save),
All of you are aware that today is a special day: the first African-American will be sworn is as President of the United States. It’s an historic moment.
Yet I wonder if you can realize just how historic, and what it means from my perspective of 64 years.
The TV, magazine and newspaper images I saw as a young woman of integration efforts in the south are unforgettable: Four little girls dead in a black church bombing. White men and women – mothers, yet – shouting and spitting on little black children as they walked to their first day in what had been an all-white school. Snarling dogs attacking demonstrators. A white woman shot as she marched in protest.
All these people wanted, black and white, were for all Americans to enjoy the same rights promised by our constitution.
You know my father was politically conservative, and he dismissed Martin Luther King Jr. as a Communist, meaning it was all some kind of a plot and therefor meaningless.
In my heart, I longed to join those marchers, those protestors and make a difference. But I’d married young and had babies, so I couldn’t hop on a bus and head for the south.
Ironically, tomorrow I’ll jump on a plane for East Africa to prepare for the tour of Americans and Swedes I’m leading, organize the dedication of the house we’ve built for AIDS orphans and their grandmas raising them, buy shoes with donor money so kids can attend school, and get ready for world premiere of the film documentary about our GRANDMA-2-GRANDMA project.
It seems only yesterday that I marveled as you, my daughters, chanted the old childhood rhyme of “Eeny Meeny, Miny Mo” … but caught a tiger by the toe. I was promoted to “correct” you and raise the N-word we’d chanted. But then I caught myself, realizing how symbolic this word change was in just one generation.
I never dreamed I’d become known as Bibi Jann, working with AIDS orphans in Tanzania, where I’ve seen the excitement about Obama’s election. Living abroad, and being “out here” in the world, it’s obvious how much the politics of our country affects others around the globe. Electing a half-black man, who has so inspired Americans and others, shows that we’ve come a long way, indeed. Our country’s constitution and all it promises as an example to the world shines bright today, and I’m proud to be an American.
It’s easy to take that all for granted when you live in the U.S. It’s easy to spout “We’re the greatest” without reflecting on what that means. It’s easy to become arrogant, to think that we always know what’s best for the world – as our last president did – and become hated for it.
Since moving to Europe, some of you have accused me of “hating America.” My response was that patriotism is NOT about believing whatever our government tells us, but about ensuring that our government adheres to the tenets of the Constitution. I’m the first person to feel tears when I hear our National Anthem, but after today I’m not embarrassed or ashamed to admit while traveling that I am American.
Know that today – half a world away from you in Sweden – I’m glued to the inauguration on CNN, hopeful that because of Barack Obama, the United States of America and the entire world will be a better, safer place for you to grow up and grow old in.
His election is the legacy of the black Americans who protested, the white Americans who marched beside them. And I like to think I’m a part of them now, helping African children find their way out of poverty and disease through education.
Daughters and son: Raise your children to respect others, stand up for what’s right and never take their educational opportunities – or citizenship – for granted. Grandchildren: Help make our world a better place each day by doing something good, whether it’s being a good friend, getting a good grade, picking up some litter or righting a wrong.
Like President Obama says, WE are the change this world needs.
Love,
Your Mom and Grandma
Jann Mitchell
Stockholm, Sweden