I've got a photo of almost that exact same sign from the 1993 March on Washington. Wow, times sure change - NOT!

Here I am in Oakland, watching the speeches on my computer. Pretty cool I can do this without a TV.
I'm watching not to really expect anything different or radical or exciting, but because as a woman of color, I want to watch my history unfold. Yes, I must admit if there were no people of color or woman running or participation on such a large scale, I would not be spending my time engaged in this event. I expected “my people” would be coloring within the lines. Playing it safe and I understand why, I understand that they understand they are playing a game. I would not expect Michael Jordan to bounce the ball outside the lines or for Serena Williams to hit a tennis ball with a baseball bat. It’s a game. I just see this as an extension of the Olympics, one week later. Another game to see who will bring home the “gold” for the most convincing speech.
They are politically strategically placing themselves. I must notice and admire the ways, in which they are coloring outside their own lines, they are taking risks within the parameters of the game. So looking through that lens I am appreciating what I am seeing. Yes, I have my Oakland ,dyke of color, spiritual activism lens I could use, but I will save that for the work that I do daily on an organizational/ personal level. Because believe me there are many things troubling about this convention that is born out of a white male supremacy culture.
Today I choose to support the energy of what is going on outside the convention and inside. It’s not me against them. I value and have compassion for what is going on inside and out of the convention. I’m praying that no one will attempt to kill Obama or kill/ hurt my comrades outside the convention as they walk for what I believe in and endure police state humiliation and insult. Inside and out, they are my people. It’s up to me to continue to color outside the lines so that these sacred colors will transform me, us, our future generations and the world. One day this institution will fall collapse organically into something beautiful and I will hold a smile in my heart knowing it was because of the sacred colors we used to color outside the lines.