Cindy Rigsbee, who grew up in the still-segregated South, thinks students need to understand the significance of the country’s election of an African American as president.
It's a conversation that should be happening in classrooms all over America. Regardless of party affiliation, political opinion, or the color of our states on that big interactive map (my state is one of three that hasn't been designated red or blue yet), we should recognize and explain to children the reasons why this election, and the outcome, is so important.
And like Mei Flower, she too thinks Obama’s win offers a much-needed sense of potential and opportunity for African-American students:
So now we have a Black president. And when I stand in front of my students, especially my African American ones, I can say, "You can be anything you want to be. You can even be President" and know that it's true.