So Colin Powell's question caused me to do a double-take. Colin Powell asked, 'Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? ... Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president?' during his endorsement of Barack Obama.
If a 20-year old Muslim American soldier, Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, can die for our country ... it
seems we should have no issue with the idea of a Muslim American being our nation's president. Khan died in Iraq and his mother is shown grieving over his headstone in Arlington Cemetery.If there are aspiring Muslim Americans dreaming about being president ... they should note that it requires hard work. Barack Obama earned his opportunity for the presidency by doing well in school ... doing well in his marriage and as a father ... doing well in his chosen vocation.
Robert Kennedy thought it would take 40 years for a Black man to be president. I think it won't take a long for a woman to be president. Nor would I be surprised if Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) or some other Muslim American were to be a credible national candidate in my lifetime.
63 years in a row, from 1921 thru 1984, we had white women winning the crown as 'Miss America'. That changed in 1984 when we had t
wo Black women holding that title -- Vanessa Williams and Suzette Charles.The 'Vanessa Williams Effect' got busy at that point. We have had five more women of color crowned as Miss America -- Debbye Turner (1990), Marjorie Vincent (1991), Kimberly Aiken (1994), Angela Baraquio (2001) and Erika Harold (2003).
Perhaps the 'Vanessa Williams Effect' will trump the 'Bradley Effect' as other non-white males strive to become President of the United States.
If so, a small amount of the credit goes to Colin Powell and Kareem Khan.
