I know what she meant: Why I agree with Michele Obama.

I know what she meant. I too am proud of my country in a way that cannot be compared to any pride I have heretofore experienced for the United States of America. That is not to say that I have never been proud of my country, merely that my heart swells when I think of what we as a people are now doing as we choose a president. For the first time in my life, I see us having deep and thoughtful discussions followed by careful deliberation resulting in history-making votes. We are seeing record numbers of voters turn out to vote in the presidential primaries and the greatest number of votes have gone to a woman and an African American man.

Let me share why I think this is so amazing. I was born and raised in a small, Central Texas town. Mostly German, somewhat Mexican, largely racist when I was a boy, this community has supported Barack Obama as the next Democratic Nominee for President of the United States.

My birthday is June 19, 1960something and our next door neighbor, Mrs. Coleman called me “Liberty Boy” and said to my mother “may he always know freedom” because I was a Juneteenth (emancipation day) baby. I can imagine that this was a little goading to my grandfather who had held a bias against Black people all of his life, albeit for no good reason. As the story goes, my grandfather had teased one of his close friends whose grandson, my friend Michael was to be born around the same period of time as I was and Grandpa had said that Michael would surely be born on the 19^th and would have especially dark skin. God has a funny way of leveling the playing field, and I was the one born on June 19^th. It’s a good thing too, or I might not have been prepared to handle the racism that I experienced in school, much less life as an out Gay man today.

Mrs. Coleman, my grandfather, my parents and all of our black neighbors learned to live together very happily. The racist systems and barriers that had for years pitted African Americans against Mexican Americans for jobs and opportunities fell away as neighbors became friends and alliances were forged to build a better future.

Still, its not all Bluebonnets and Yellow Roses. Rumors and lies have spread to convince some Latinos that Obama is not Christian, does not pledge allegiance to the flag, and did not take the oath on the Bible. I find it hard to believe that these tactics are coming from the Clinton campaign because I have friends that work for Senator Clinton and they are good people. No, I think they are coming from short-sighted and petty individuals who will do anything to win, or in this case to keep Sen. Obama from winning. What concerns me most is that Sen. Clinton did not do more to denounce these lies and I can’t imagine that she would be satisfied to win any vote resulting from this kind of fear mongering.

I guess I am just an idealist at heart. It sounds almost too simple to say that friendship overcomes politics. Trust overcomes racism. Hope overcomes fear. But, it rings true to me and I think to the majority of Democrats in my part of Texas. Perhaps for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my hometown and I am proud of my country.

Marco A. Grimaldo is a lifelong Democrat from Texas who has spent his professional career working at the intersection of faith and politics in Washington, DC to help overcome hunger, poverty and injustice. Please feel free to contact the author at magrimaldo@gmail.com with any comments.