Those who prepared the way for Obama

Nobody argues that Barack Obama's election to the presidency solves America's problems with race. Deep differences and longstanding racist viewpoints are still with us.

But Obama's victory in the presidential election is a giant milestone. It is a marker that will help future students of American history as they try to understand our progress away from racism toward a future that will be different and better.

Future generations will wonder why some of us old-timers were amazed that a black person was elected president during our lifetimes. On the other hand, we wonder how we would explain to our grandparents the results of the recent election. In our growing-up years, whites were dominant. A suggestion of the possibility of a black president would have brought laughter by many and anger by some in our region.

After all, when we were growing up, we went to separate schools, ate in different restaurants and drank from different water fountains. Blacks were excluded from any leadership position in business or government that might put them in a position of supervising whites.

So, how have we come to accept, even embrace, the reality of a black family in the White House?

All of us have our own stories of how our attitudes evolved. Some whites will credit the extraordinary character of family servants or subordinate colleagues in business with "opening their hearts" to acceptance of the changes that came later.

Others point to black athletes like Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and many others whose talents and class made them our heroes.

In North Carolina, the public performance of black political leaders like Howard Lee, Dan Blue and Harvey Gantt earned respect and admiration from whites.

Each of us has a different story of our personal journey of changing attitudes. In my case, the some of the people who helped me most were the black people for whom I worked.

For instance, in the summer of 1961 when I was an ROTC cadet at Fort Bragg, the regular Army officer in command of my training company was a black Lt. Colonel. His cadets came from both white and black universities. But most of the white cadets came from southern segregated colleges. Summer camp was our first integrated experience and the first time we'd ever had to take orders from a black person. The quiet dignity, toughness and fairness of our black commander quickly gained my admiration. I accepted him as my superior, never thinking about the reality that he and I would not have been able to eat together in a nice restaurant in downtown Fayetteville.

Then there was Bill Johnson, the publisher and editor of The Charlotte Post, who hired me to be the newspaper's lawyer. Before he bought the paper, he had spent his life working for white people and, on the side, writing sports about black teams for the Charlotte Observer. But in our relationship he was in charge. While he accepted my legal advice, he confidently made the important decisions and gave me directions. By the time he died, he had become a mentor whose leadership I cherished.

Barack Obama earned his special place in American history. But in my heart he stands on the shoulders of Bill Johnson and that special black Lt. Colonel at Fort Bragg.

D.G. Martin will talk about this column on WCHL-1360 at 8:20 a.m. today with Ron Stutts. His regular program, "Who's Talking," airs at 6 and 10 p.m.