Remember when the fellow who lives in the largest private home in Georgia, and who can choose from 18 restrooms whenever nature calls, spent MANY millions of dollars trying to convince us that the kind young woman standing between Sheila and me in this photograph had crawled straight out of the infernal depths?
Well, that young woman is now the governor-elect of Georgia.
And tonight I find myself thinking about my daughters and my four granddaughters. And about all those little nine- and ten-year-olds who passed through my classrooms during my 33 years as a teacher. Especially the little girls of color.
I wonder how many times some of those little girls were made to feel that certain doors were closed to them. That certain dreams were too big. That certain places of honor and leadership were meant for somebody else.
And I wish I could gather every one of them around me tonight, point to this photograph, and say, "Look, sweetheart. Look what happened in Georgia today."
Because somewhere tonight, a little girl is going to bed in a state where someone who looks like her has just been elected governor.
She may not understand all that means just yet.
But someday she will.
And as for this old schoolteacher, who has lived long enough to see some wonderful changes and some heartbreaking setbacks, I have to confess that my computer screen is getting awfully misty.
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