This one's for you, where ever you are

Barack Obama's inauguration today is too huge to let him and him alone have it. It belongs to each and every American and to history. So, since part of it is mine then I'd like to dedicate it to the following people:

• The late Alan Quinn. Alan was a tire salesman who worked at White's Truck Tires when I worked there. He was the type of salesman who cast aspersions on his competitors, ran down anyone who disagreed with him, and acted like he was the only one in the world who knew anything about sales and tires. He was a misogynist and a racist of the first order. Once when he was recruiting a guy to come to work for us he showed the recruit a brochure and he proudly stated, "See, look a there, they ain't a black face in the bunch." Alan was a staunch Republican, adulterer, and liar. He's dead now. His karma caught up with him at the age of 49. When he went in the hospital for surgery to repair a slipped disc they found out he had cancer and he was dead 4 months later.
• The late Paul Steele. He was my crazy aunt's third or fourth husband. He was a hardcore racist from day one. He refused to volunteer to fight in the Korean War because he was afraid he might have to take orders from a black man. He would complain bitterly that blacks had taken over "pro ball." He lived a long life full of hatred for people who had a different skin color than he did. And for good measure he also hated young people, gays, and hippies as well.

I wish there were some way I could contact those two dead racist assholes so that I could make them watch a black man become President of the United States.

I'd also like to dedicate the inauguration of Barack Obama to the following nice people:

• My first best friend Aaron Lewis's mother. Mrs. Lewis was a hard working black woman who worked two, sometimes three jobs to keep a roof over her family's head and to put food on their table. If she's still alive I hope she's enjoying seeing all the fuss and pageantry surrounding Obama. I lost touch with Aaron many years ago when I moved out of Detroit after my mom died and I want to dedicate this historic event to him as well.
• My parents. Both Mom and Dad instilled in me from a very young age the fact that all people are equal and that just because someone has a different color skin than I do that doesn't make them bad or a lesser person than me. Like a lot of kids who were born in the early '60's I sometimes repeated the 'N' word and when they heard me use it they'd often give me a smack in the mouth and tell me to never say that word again. And when I got done crying they'd tell me that saying that word was bad because it was demeaning to them and it made me look like a bigoted idiot when I said it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I never thought this, a black man becoming President, would happen in my lifetime. It's a pleasure to be witnessing positive history being made after so many years of Bush's blundering. Obama and the rest of us have a lot of problems facing us and I hope we can come together and reclaim the promise of America that Bush and Cheney stole from us. Let's celebrate on this historic day and then tomorrow let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.