When I was in first grade, they taught about important, famous people. Often times they were famous for being the first African American to do x; or the first woman to do y; or the first African American woman to do z (Whoever wrote the curriculum never talked about Latinos or Asians or Native Americans or gays).
In our society, they are rightfully important people. But they shouldn’t be.
Not because they did not do great things, but because of the prejudice that caused for them to be discriminated against. If Mae Jemison was the first person on the moon; and Neil Armstrong was just another astronaut, we wouldn’t have to remember anybody as the first African American woman in space. Neil Armstrong was the first white man on the man on the moon. George Washington was the first white man to be president of this country. But we don’t honor them for being the first white man to accomplish what they did-we honor them because they are the first person to do what they did.
Often times, women and minorities have to work harder to accomplish these things: and they deserve the attention we give them. But I’m hoping that all this attention is fueling a day when it is as normal for a new discovery to be made by a gay, Latino woman who crossed the border illegally with her parents as a toddler as it is for a straight, male WASP.
That’s why Diana Nyad is so inspirational. Who would expect the first person (not woman, person) to swim between Cuba and Florida without a shark cage to be a lesbian woman in her sixties? In our society, where old, white men continue to dominate corporate boards, university faculties, and congress that is very unusual.
My great hope is that it becomes normal in my lifetime. Considering our progress on Civil Rights, that is unlikely.
Maybe only a dream.
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