This land is his land. But it is a land born of slavery, which came of age under Jim Crow and still struggles today to live down that legacy.
And yet Carl Wright would die for it.
The U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and millions of military members like him began saluting a new commander in chief Tuesday. President Barack Obama will take charge of a military that includes about 460,000 black officers and enlisted service members.
Although African Americans comprise about 17 percent of the military, they make up only 9 percent of its officer corps.
Wright, 50, is not unaware of the problems and challenges that persist, but said Obama's inauguration shows the world is changing.
Wright viscerally remembers a day in 1979, when he came home from serving his country overseas and, though wearing his military dress uniform, was passed over for a seat on a bus in Charleston, S.C., and then cussed out with several racial epithets when he complained.
As an officer, Wright said his salute will be no snappier for Obama than it was for George W. Bush or any of the other four presidents he has served under
But as a black man born before segregation was outlawed, Wright said he watched Obama's inauguration with "a deep sense of pride and awe."
His experience coming home from Iraq in 2006 was much different than the l970s. "There were people there to greet me, to shake my hand, and I was thanked for my service," said Wright, who is based at Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah.
Obama did not make that change happen, but Wright said his inauguration is a symbol of America's changing racial attitudes.
"To me, he is not the first black president, he is the first president of the 21st century," Wright said. "And in the 21st century, we will be more color-blind than ever."
Gerald Holden hopes so. His sons are too young to understand the significance of this day. The first turns 2 in April; the second was born the day before Obama's election.
Holden, 33, said he knows they will grow to learn their nation's legacy of racism. But, he said, they will never think it's impossible for a black man to ascend to the White House. "It's a great feeling to have someone hold the highest office in the United States of America who looks like you," Holden said.
Holden said he serves in the Air Force not in spite of but because of racial prejudices. "I can't change the world," he said, "but I can help change the thinking of people I come into contact with."
E-mail Matthew D. LaPlante at mlaplante(at) sltrib.com
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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