Hi everybody back home in the good ol' East Foothills. I am writing this to you in a luxurious home in suburban Virginia where the temperature outside is about 20 degrees. I'm staying with National Hispanic University President Dr. David Lopez and his family and friends. What a time!
I left sunny California yesterday for a trip to witness history: the inauguration of Barack Obama as our nation's 44th President. I took off from SFO after hugs and kisses from my wife Julie and our three kids. My flight on United was packed. I changed planes in Chicago, and made the hop, skip and jump to DC aboard what seemed like the Obama Express: lots of people heading to the inaugural. The plane was packed with excited people: ladies in Obama sweatshirts, guys in Obama caps and everyone ready for a party! Arriving in DC at 9:30 local time, it was a madhouse at Dulles Airport. The place was packed with people very dressed up for the occasion. I saw many ladies in fur coats and men in suits and topcoats. I also saw one man being helped into his outerwear while sitting in a wheelchair. The man was wearing a cap signifying him as a member of an elite and dwindling group of pilots: The Tuskeegee Airmen. This was a group of African American World War II pilots who overcame severe racism and silenced doubters in their struggle to get their wings. They not only flew, but several became aces in dogfights against enemy pilots over Germany. I interviewed one of them last year at an event in Morgan Hill. One thing that will always stick with me is a statement the pilot made about what happened to him when he got shot down. He said the Germans treated him better as a prisoner of war than his fellow countrymen on the streets of Tuskeegee. Something to think about as we head into this historic week.
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