Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is a retired minister and a civil-rights activist who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He is a contributor to DiversityInc.

My ministry was shaped by my participation in the Civil Rights Movement. I was deeply honored to be able to march on the right side of Martin Luther King Jr. during a March in Boston. I served as emcee at a rally on Boston Common where he spoke following that rally. My faith, my participation in the Civil Rights Movement and my humanity have enabled and empowered me to work for inclusivity, not just for African Americans but for women as well. I have been involved in ministry with women, Black and white as we have served in co-equal pastoral roles. During my ministry, I have served as pastor of four predominantly Black congregations and four predominantly white congregations.

My support for Barack Obama is not simply because he is an African-American male. My support is shaped by the "breath of fresh air" that he represents that has the possibility of transforming the stagnant air that prevails in politics. Some of my support is shaped by the fact that I am the father of two sons in their 40s. My 47-year-old son has watched and is watching the response of people to the candidacy of Barack Obama. Neither I nor my son believe that all Black people should support Obama. Nor do we disagree with women who support Sen. Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. But we are disturbed by the "piling on" that Barack Obama is receiving, not only from his competitors but by negative mistruths on the Internet and via e-mails. We are also saddened by the comments of some of my generation of civil-rights leaders and other Blacks who support Clinton. They have every right to support Clinton, but in their doing so, their "trashing" of Obama is beyond belief!  

My son and those of his generation of all races are watching with great interest, often with disbelief, as a member of their generation, Barack Obama, is making a significant and sensational run for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. The personal assaults he has received go far beyond disagreement with his political perspectives and policies. He is attacked because he offers a message of hope. His gift for oratory with its inspiration and spirit of inclusivity is critiqued. There are those who minimize his obvious intellect. His community-organizing experience and his service in a state legislature and in the U.S. senate are dismissed and/or belittled by some. Obama's call for us to be a United States of America rather than a series of blue and red states is seen by some as an impossibility. His seeing some value in a former president, a Republican, breaks all of the traditional rules of politics. "Traditional politics" has no place for those who admit that there are some positive attributes among those "across the aisle." His call for change seems to upset those "who want to change without changing."

Black young adults as well as young adults, women and men of all races are watching with interest to see how the political establishment and the electorate treat "one of their own." Whether Obama gets the Democratic Party presidential nomination or not, the way his opponents engage in opposition to him will say much about the depth of our commitment to diversity. Obama, who is in his 40s, is a Black male, has the capacity to communicate with great power, to bring into the political process younger people who have not been it before, and offers to the nation new suggestions for our domestic and foreign policy. If he is the victim of traditional political abuse with its unfairness, then who can blame my son's generation, regardless of their race, when they distance themselves from politics and wonder if the nation is ready to receive the gifts of their experience?

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