In the Minority on an Historic Day

Sometimes, one finds herself in the right place at the right time. Today I was one of two white people watching Obama's inauguration at a sliding-fee medical clinic in St. Paul, that caters to both people who can afford regular health insurance, and those that cannot. I was providing a ride for an elder for work; from what I could tell, the clientele is diverse but primarily lower to middle income African-American.

As the time neared, one patient asked if the clinic planned to air the inauguration; soon after, one of the employees brought out a television and set it up. Within a few minutes, there were about a dozen of us watching the festivities: seven African-American women, two African-American men, and an Asian couple. I think one of the employees sensed my combination of joy and shyness given the occasion and the group, and made an effort to smile at me several times as if to say, "We understand you may be happy about this, too!" I had the frivolous and self-centered desire to acknowledge to them that I'm not determined to keep white privilege and others' lack of privilege exactly where they are, that I desire to be a "good guy" in the eyes of average people.

I listened intently to the group's spontaneous comments. About Clinton, one African-American woman said matter-of-factly, as if watching an old movie Western, "Oh, he's a good guy." When Obama said his father may not have been served in a restaurant 60 years ago, I didn't dare look away from the screen but heard more than one thoughtful "Ugh" of understanding. When the commentator mentioned that Biden's wife prefers to teach at community college over prestigious universities, one man murmured, "She's trying to keep it simple, man." Various people clapped spontaneously several times. The only other white person, a woman a few years my senior, stood, teary-eyed, for 40 minutes solid. I grew up and live among Midwestern white stoics, but I became a Spanish major in college partially because I love cultures that show emotion, especially positive emotion.

And there was plenty of positive emotion to go around this morning, listening to Aretha Franklin, Obama, and my fellow citizens for whom the inauguration was even more powerful than it was for me. I was in the right place, at the right time.