Change Starts With the People
- You've probably noticed how quick older generations are to criticize the values and priorities of the young. You've heard it all: young people are ambivalent, young people are self-centered, and young people are double-jointed from too much texting.
- But Obama doesn't believe those things.
- In fact, whenever he is "doubtful or cynical" about the state of our country, "what gives [him] hope is the next generation" (157).
- He speaks specifically about a woman named Ashley, a 23-year-old white woman "who organized for [the] campaign in Florence, South Carolina" (159).
- She shared her story, how her mother was diagnosed with cancer and lost her insurance when she missed work for treatment and was subsequently let go.
- "Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches" because they were cheap, which would help her mother save on food costs (163).
- Ashley joined the campaign to be a resource for other kids around the country who want to help their parents, too.
- Her story symbolizes pure love between a mother and a child, and it's decidedly contradictive to the stereotypes that define her generation.
- So when an old Black man told Ashley that he was part of the campaign because of her, he wasn't just trying to say how moved he was by Ashley's story.
- The Black man was trying to say that he and Ashley wanted the same things. They were doing something important, not just for Black people, or for white people, but for everyone…because children shouldn't have to think about saving money by eating mustard and relish sandwiches.
- Obama tells this story to show us that the issues we're talking about aren't racial issues, not really.
- They're human issues—but recognizing that is not enough.
- We have to start in the same place Ashley and the Black man did.
- Obama is saying we need to inspire change in each other, across racial and generational lines, and that's the first step to achieving a perfect union.