Published: Nov 10, 2008 05:00AM
Much was possible before
After the Nov. 4 historic election, Oprah Winfrey was asked about her thoughts, and she said that she felt new hope that anything is now possible in America.
I thought it sounded odd coming from a black woman who is one of the richest people in America, who has been embraced by all of America for many years.
Maybe this election made her feel that a person of color could even be the U.S. secretary of state. No, that could not be it. That’s already happened.
Maybe she felt that now a person of color could be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No, that also has happened. Perhaps a minority could fill the office of attorney general of the United States. No, that too has already happened. Justice of the Supreme Court? No, that also has happened.
I hope not to sound like Archie Bunker, as I and my immediate family all voted for Barack Obama, but it just seemed that most people’s reaction to his win made it appear that until Nov. 4, we in white America were all just a bunch of racist crackers.
I am as proud and grateful to be an American now as I was before the election.
Hugh Wallace
Eugene