I said I think things haven’t changed as quickly as we thought they would in the 60-70’s but they have changed. Daily the change is before us. A bi-racial Man is running for President and white America is voting for Him because he is the best candidate, not because he is black and not to fill a quota. He is not playing the race card he is playing the “We Are All Americans Card,” not the divided red state/blue state card. And the one trying to play the glass ceiling quota card? Only women with Membership cards in NOW are buying into that. We are about to watch a state like Texas (and two months ago my sister said Texas would NEVER elect a Black man and she is a police officer there) and I think they are going to do just that. And now so does she!

In my small town there is a change going on here two. When we buy our Chanukah Gelt shop keepers say “I have sold a lot of these I didn’t know there were so many Jews here.” Or “I have never met a Jewish person before.” And it is not in the condescending spitting out racial slurs kind of way, it is the wow, which is so cool kind of way. The College in Chico is very diverse and that has been good for our small mountain town.

I think we continue to do what we have always done, change the world one child at a time. When we teach them American History we include all Americans and not just in February — the Revolution war and Crispus Attacks, the Civil War and Robert E. Lee. When we teach Christopher Columbus we teach about the Spanish Inquisition because it was going on at the same time! When we teach Concentration Camps we talk about the ones in California and the ones in Austria, Poland, and Yugoslavia. And when we say “Never Again,” we mean it for Europe and America and Africa! Genocide in Serbia, in the Sudan, in Rwanda, in Darfur …NEVER EVER AGAIN means just that. I know we have a long way to go, But John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King never knew about Apartheid but it happened!

So as we teach our children to love the Lord their God with all their heart and mind and strength we will teach them to love one another. That is where the battle is won; in the hearts of color-blind children.

Change has happened, it is still happening and I believe the melting pot we truly have become that isn’t hyphenated is changing everything one child at a time. Marissa is going to change her world, my grandchildren are going to change the world and we will stand in awe.

Because of Jesus, Bobbie

And while it is true that America is supposed to be the great “Melting Pot”, it’s never been an easy process. Remember the “No Irish Need Apply” signs? The Jim Crow South? The needless animosity of the natives toward any immigrants? It really hasn’t changed all that much.

Hubby is in a field where there is 20% female/80% male in the field. Hubby’s department is trying to fill 3 tenure track positions. They received dozens of applications, they picked an assortment, including the 3 female applicants to come interview. After 3 weeks of interviews ( and all the money it cost to fly them in, and keep them overnight, and take them out to meals) the made their choices, 2 women were not acceptable, their depth of knowledge was insufficient for the positions, the third woman was terribly shy, scared of her own shadow and had NO TEACHING EXPERIENCE.. even though she was educated at Princeton. They chose 3 men.. and were refused. The Dean would not let them hire 3 men. 2 were offered positions, one accepted, and they were told to start over again. The department already has 20% female professors, which accurately reflects the field.. but the dean wanted the terribly shy, unqualified woman – who comes from a well known American school. I tell you, the ladies in the department are livid, as are the men! To bring down the quality of education in the department just to achieve equal employment is rediculous! The department already has it’s ethnic diversity.. the % was higher a few years ago, but two fellows hired around the same time as hubby failed to achieve tenure and their contracts were ended.

Anyhow, what I’m trying to say is, yes, racism is ugly and wrong.. but righting the situation has to be done properly.. you can’t devalue a job just to fill it because someone has the right anatomy, or the right skin colour… I can understand that if you have two equal quality applicants, trying to achieve diversity might mean you choose the one who is ethnically divers – and there should be no reason why that choice should be difficult to make – We’re ALL God’s children, no matter where our heritage comes from.

I sure miss Montreal – where we had a fantastic mosaic of peoples. I miss the languages and the food and the smells.. Saskatchewan doesn’t have that much diversity – food is boring, everyone speaks English, and try to find spices here? Only in tiny back ally shops!

Oh, and about leaving.. We spend LOADS of money bringing South African Dr.s to Sask, only to have them leave for greener pastures elsewhere in Canada – we don’t pay them enough and the workload is too tough!