What Obama victory says about America

I was 15 and a sophomore at Zion Benton High School when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Shortly thereafter, race riots broke out in our cafeteria during lunch hour.

At the time, the school was about 85 percent white, my race, and 15 percent black.

The police were called, students were taken to the hospital and jail and I was saddened to watch my school fall into the clutches of hatred.

I admired Dr. King and still have a videotape of one of the greatest speeches I've ever heard, his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Like him, I believe that a person should be judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin.

On election night, I watched another great speech, perhaps the best acceptance speech of my life.

I hope that Barack Obama will be the mediator that he professes to be and be the president for all of us. That there are no red states or blue states, just the United States.

Although I did not vote for him - for political reasons, not racial - I felt a great deal of pride for America, its future and what his election says about our great country.

It is my hope that finally, at long last, we can begin to put the evils of racism and bigotry behind us.

I am sure Dr. King is looking down from above with a smile while repeating those great words, "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last."

May God bless Barack Obama, our new president, and may God bless America.

John Schadl

Arlington Heights