…backwards and in high heels.

What Hillary Clinton is now confronting as a female candidate for president is a testament to how difficult it is to break barriers in these United States. Think of the barrier broken by Barack Obama almost 8 years ago, or the barriers broken more recently by gay and lesbian Americans. While it may be hard and it takes a great fight , it is possible because this is America. In my lifetime, I have been privileged to watch as my country has grown in stature, as it had broken the shackles of an ignorance borne by white men of privilege and power who got to write the history of this great nation for more than two centuries. Certainly, the power and privilege, the wealth and prosperity, did not come solely with the color of our skins or their gender. But their gender and race determined their position in society. If a person couldn’t by law be considered a human being and if citizens weren’t by law allowed to vote they are effectively relegated to a position of inferiority.

These citizens were limited by those who so narrowly interpreted the liberating promise of our nation’s revolution and by an constitution written by imperfect men. Regardless of what strict constructionists may believe, a document that had counted human beings as 3/5 human and denied citizens the right to vote based upon their gender and race is not a perfected document. That is not to denigrate our founding fathers or judge their accomplishments, it simply recognizes that they were human and creatures of their time. Over time, our constitution has been perfecting precisely due to the mechanisms for change so wisely incorporated into its provisions. This was intended to be a living document because the Founders were men of vision.

While many Americans and many American institutions were denied rights that the privileged enjoyed, over time this has been corrected in law. For Black Americans who were enslaved, it wasn’t until January 1, 1863 that they were recognized as freemen. And so, for women, it wasn’t until August 18, 1920 that they were given the same right to vote as their fathers, brothers and husbands. And so, for Black Americans, it wasn’t until August 5, 1965 and the passage of the Voting Rights legislation that their right to vote was recognized and protected. And so, for the American Public School System, it wasn’t until Brown vs. Board on May 17, 1954 that its schools were integrated and children would be given equal opportunities to learn. These were not rights given to our citizens, it was an affirmation that their rights had always been inalienable, yet denied. The expansion of rights under the Constitution in each case was accomplished by declaration that the practice overturned was unconstitutional.

Much like Ginger Rogers whose recognition for her grace and adroit dancing came far after her 10 iconic musicals from 1933 to 1949, all Americans have finally caught up with the promise of our nation’s promise. Dancing backwards and in heels, is very difficult. It is a task made more difficult when the one doing the leading enjoys the credit for your skill. Astaire was the first to recognize this disparity and to acknowledge it. America is made better and more perfect by acknowledging the grace and patience of it citizens who have had to fight for their place in America even as they contributed to its bounty.

Privilege is a funny thing. Some of us who enjoy it, feel loathe to share it. But those whose predecessors were denied their God given rights, are thankful for and benefit from their patience and their fight. Without it, there is no Barack Obama and no Hillary Clinton. Without it there is no true equality. Without it, there is no opportunity for the founding fathers’ experiment in social justice to continue towards perfection.

The election of our first “Black” president and the possibility that Hillary Clinton will become our first “female” president is really the dance of centuries. A dance done backwards …and in heels … by Americans born with the sole privilege and protection of our Constitution. And it will continue despite efforts of an advantaged few to reassert the social inequality of our past. Whether she wins or loses, Hillary will have joined those who have contributed to our nation’s success while overcoming the privileged advantage of gender. Her opponent in this race has enjoyed all the advantages of his birth and status. Mr. Trump is a white, wealthy, male who acts as though his privilege should pave his march to the White House. Fortunately for us, in our present day, America it takes more than privilege, it takes a choreography of tenacity, skill and knowledge. Unfortunately for him, not only is his privilege immaterial, but he never did learn to dance — either backwards or otherwise.