At a very early age, I remember being babysat by a beautiful young lady named Willie-Mae.  She taught me a simple lesson that has guided me for more than sixty-five years.  One day, when I was about four or five years old, I crawled up on her lap.  I noticed her black skin and asked her, "Don't you wish you were white?"  She replied, this is the way God made me, and I would not wish to be any other way. Living in the Deep South, surrounded by public signs that read, "Whites Only," the lesson she taught me saw me through the turbulent years of the civil rights movement.  I could never countenance any public policy, nor even condone any privately held attitude, that would harm my beloved Willie-Mae. Today, we look back upon the civil rights movement and marvel at the degree to which things have changed.  However much may remain to be done, whatever missteps were made along the way, the civil rights...(Read Full Post)