The Young Turks

Not literally of course, but for all intents and purpose. Many of you may not remember the television show "All in the Family" but in its day it was a ground breaking show, the likes of which we do not see on today's television. The networks would never take that kind of chance.

The main character on the show was a man named Archie Bunker, a man who was difficult to like, yet in many ways was quite lovable. He was old, over weight, congenitally cranky, and a through and through bigot. Yet as you watched the show, one would realize he was not a bad man, he was just someone who had grown up knowing nothing but stereotypes about people of different races, ethnicities, or orientation.

This was my Grandfather to a tee.

He was a good man who I loved with all my heart. He was a man who would do anything for his family, who worked double shifts so his six sons could do what he never did, and go to college. He fought in the Second World War, and raised a family. He went to church every Sunday, and respected the Catholic tradition.

Yet he was a bigot. He judged everyone by their color, and felt stereotypes were true. It's funny, he knew a number of black men (he would have called them colored’s at best the N word at worst), and they did not fit his stereotypes, but he always thought they were the exceptions. He never seemed to connect that all the black men he knew somehow were the exceptions.

I have often used my Grandfather as an example of why I believe this country is making headway in regards to racism and bigotry. My Grandfather was Archie Bunker, but my father was not, he was much more open to people of different races and ethnicities. I would like to say that I am even more open and comfortable, and I expect my son will surpass me. I look at where my family was and off to where we will be and I see the path this country is on and feel hope in that regard.

The progress will be slow, and there will be points where it will back-slide, or slow to a crawl, but over the long term it will continue forward.

I thought about my Grandfather today as I listened to Barak Obama make his speech today. When he talked about his Grandmother, I instantly saw my Grandfather. It made me realize that I had something very common with Obama, and this made me realize that this is most likely a common thread through out the country.

It is for this reason that I felt Obama's speech today was great. I thought he did succeed in delivering a great message with today's speech. I believe he addressed a number of issues with today's speech, and may have saved his candidacy.