letter from an urban democrat

When I walk out my front door, and step into my neighborhood, into the streets of my city, I am greeted with the a scene replicated in cities across this country: a panoply of faces, of races, of styles and fashions, the sounds, the singing, the symphony of urban America.

I could be in Oakland, or I could be in Milwaukee. I could be in Philadelphia or Miami. I could be in Houston, in Seattle or Cleveland. I could be in St. Louis, or Atlanta, or Memphis. Each city has its flavor, has its own particular vibe and sights and smells: but if there is one thing I would like to convey to you today it is that for millions of American citizens, these big cities are our home.

We love our cities and embrace their diversity. There is something beautiful about it, something fundamentally American in it. I can't tell you what it's like to sit for dinner at Le Cheval, a popular Vietnamese restaurant here in downtown Oakland, and look around the room and realize that, table after table, in face after face....one can see represented the peoples of our world: African, Asian, Latino, European, Pacific Islander....oftentimes sitting side by side, at the same table, with family and friends...in one glance it seems you can take in the future of our nation and our world.

Now, diversity presents its challenges as well. I know urban teachers who are working their utmost to bridge barriers of language and culture, to give kids the education that every American deserves. And yes, there are tensions and conflicts, as there always are when so many, embracing so much difference, live in such a concentrated locale. But whether you are from a family that has deep roots in this country or you are an aspiring citizen new to our shores, we manage, us urban Americans, overwhelmingly, to get along, to cooperate in building the common language and culture that reforges every day the amalgam of voices that has made America great.

I have lived in cities my entire life, side by side with neighhbors of all backgrounds and creeds, and, in my first essay on this new blog, I would like to state something simple and clear: in my experience, we urban Americans love this country deeply. We are patriotic citizens like everybody else. No more and no less. I intend to write about that.

I write to you today from Oakland, California, with all the benefits and limitations that vantage point affords. I am an urban democrat with a small 'd'....and an urban Democrat as well. I aspire to write essays that will be true to my roots, to my reality, and at the same time help forge a politics that reaches out from that point of view to the rest of our nation.

In its simplest terms, I aspire to write in a way that communicates and does justice to the people I see, every day, when I step away from my computer and into the streets of this city that I call home.