I grew up in a family that was very politically minded. My family members were involved in local government and there is a lot of activism in my families past. My dad grew up in a small town in mid Michigan called Brighton. For years, the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan lived a town over. Racism was the norm and tolerance was unusual. In this environment, my grandparents helped to found the Human Resources Center to promote equal housing rights for all ethnicities. Just this morning my father was telling me about this and he said they had a vocal "enemy" that opposed them. It was the local baptist preacher. His slogan was "the home is your castle," and he told people that they shouldn't have to sell their home to those "niggers and spic's."

I'm thankful for the strides that have been made that force creepy, insane would be killers to the dark corners of the internet and not at the populace pulpit. It's at least no longer acceptable to be a racist. -we have a long ways to go yet but I'm grateful for how far we've come.