Obama's win extends beyond party lines

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2008

In 1969, my mother called me and my six siblings from outside to sit in front of the TV. We knew something important had to be happening for her to sit us down in a hot house -- there was no air-conditioning -- amid New Jersey's humid weather on a July afternoon.

My mother said she wanted us to see history in the making. That history was man landing on the moon. I was only 12, but to this day I am grateful to my mother for making sure I saw that giant leap for mankind.

Fast forward to 2008. I, like my mom, called my children -- ages 25 and 28 -- to make sure they turned on their TVs to witness history. What we all saw is what Martin Luther King Jr. had hoped for but never saw in his lifetime: a man being judged by the content of his character rather than by...