MONDAY PHOTOGRAPHA NEW SONG

The bird in this photograph was singing today in a place not far from where I was born in Arkansas. It made me remember that wonderful poem by Langston Hughes and how fitting the words are to this time in our history. If he had lived until now, Hughes would have been proud to see Barack Obama at the meeting today in the Oval Office of the White House. President Bush gave President Elect Obama a tour of the White House. Hughes would have loved the moment when they passed through the White House dining room.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.
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Many Americans probably do not know that Langston Hughes was homosexuaL He was closeted except to his closest friends. In this past election cycle the Mormon Church and the Catholic Church and many fundamentalist protestant churches have paid hugh sums of money in their attempts to keep gay and lesbian citizens from full citizenship in most states in America. By "bearing false witness" they have temporarily succeeded in fooling enough Californians to get a bare majority of them to support a constitutional amendment to take a civil right from a large group of citizens. In the long run they will be shown to be as misguided as those Americans were who supported limiting rights for racial groups. Justice will eventually prevail.

The time will come when openly gay and lesbian citizens will also be allowed to come to the American table. Nobody will dare say to them, "Accept less than full civil rights and full citizenship." They, too, are America.