As I watched Hillary Rodham Clinton accept the nomination for President of the United States last night, I had flashbacks to scenes from my childhood. You know how memories, especially those from the long ago past, come at you in splintered pieces? Almost like still photos or film clips.

Miss America and Girls in the 1960s

I remember an annual highlight for me and my sisters was watching the Miss America pageant. I have an image of women parading across a stage in bathing suits. We scrutinized their looks: their hair, their eyes, their teeth, their clothing. And each of us would zero in on one young woman we wanted to win. Throughout the contest, for that one night, we wanted to be that woman and all that we had deemed so likeable about how she looked.

I remember watching the nightly news with my father. We were fans of Huntley and Brinkley (both men). I especially liked Chet Huntley. To me, he seemed so calm and serious, his dark suit and tie and his low measured voice made me feel so secure.

I remember the volatility of the Civil Rights Movement and of the Vietnam War and the 1968 Democratic Convention that took place in Chicago, my own backyard. The faces (all of them male) that flit across my memory: Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Richard Daley, Richard Nixon.

I remember elementary school, sitting quietly at my desk all day, diligently following teacher’s instructions, understanding that what was expected of me was good grades and good behavior. It paid off with Ivy League college admissions.

Stretching Our Horizons in the 1970s

In the mid-1970s, I was a young woman attending Yale University, a college that had been all-male just 6 years before I arrived. But I remember feeling that more was being expected of me than ever before. My teachers, men and women, pushed me to stretch my thinking beyond just “the right answer.” And though it was more of a backdrop than something I thought about every day, I was aware that during my junior year, Yale was being led by a woman, Hanna Gray.

I have a picture of Hillary Clinton on my phone. She looks barely in her 20s. . She is standing with Bill across the street from the dormitory I lived in for three years. The picture must have been taken just a few years before I arrived on campus. She is smiling, her chin jutting forward just a little, a look of self-confidence and of complete comfort in her own skin. She looks like she cannot wait to make her mark on the world.

We’ve Come A Long Way Baby!

Last night, Hillary Clinton accepted the nomination for President of the United States. I watched her in her white suit, her eyes shining, her not-so-low voice clear and strong. The images of influencers from my childhood flashed through my mind. I thought at that moment: The memories of the little girls growing up today will include Hillary. Her beauty and her power to make them feel secure. This moment will be seared on their minds, a snapshot that informs their sense of possibility, that drives their self-expectation, and impacts the choices they make.

Today, as I go about my work, Miss America, Chet Huntley, Hannah Gray, and Hillary Clinton are all perched on my shoulder, pushing the continued expansion of my own sense of possibility and self-expectation. We’ve come a long way baby. Thank you Hillary Rodham Clinton for shaping women across the generations, inspiring us to live fully in the knowledge that, “Yes we can!”

Share your stories of formative memories that shaped you.

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail,” 1963

This quote appears on the home page of Inclusive Communities Project (ICP) a nonprofit working in Dallas, TX.

I wrote this post just hours before the shootings in Dallas last night. I almost decided to scrap it thinking that we are too raw to hear about ICP’s work right now. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I am convinced it is a fitting part of our reflections today as we mourn the recent shootings in towns and cities across our country. We can be fearful. We can be angry. We can cover our eyes in an attempt to shut it out. But the fact remains: we are tied in a single garment of destiny.

Single Garment of Destiny: Making the Best of It

So what can we do to make this mutual destiny a whole lot better than we’re living it now?

ICP has an answer that is simple to say, challenging to live out. ICP works for the creation and maintenance of thriving inclusive communities. What does this boil down to? The elimination of segregation.

The Supreme Court Agrees

Before you dismiss this goal as pie in the sky, listen to this. The Supreme Court agrees with ICP. I won’t attempt to outline here all of the legal issues that are part of the June 2015 decision. If you are interested, you can read the Supreme Court’s full decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs et al. v. Inclusive Communities Project, et al. Here’s the impact. Affordable housing must be distributed in a way that gives low income and minority families access to high opportunity, high growth areas.

Building Inclusive Communities

This legal case arose out of the advocacy component of ICP’s program. ICP uses the LEGAL TOOL only when cooperation isn’t working. For those who want to build inclusive community, ICP acts as a RESOURCE.

• • ICP researches to find out where racially and economically inclusive housing opportunities exist and then shares this key information with cities, other non-profits, and individuals.
  • ICP works with individuals looking for high opportunity housing.
  • ICP works with high opportunity communities: those that are looking to become more inclusive; and those that are already inclusive but are looking to become more vibrant

Here is what ICP says about its mission:

There are many things that cities, organizations, and individuals can do to promote and support inclusiveness, fairness, and opportunity in the community in which they live and work. The work can begin with understanding the value of inclusiveness to the overall health and well-being of communities in 21st century America. There are models of success and people willing to work with you to achieve the benefits of such communities. But you have to make the effort. Separation by race/ethnicity and class has historically been an organizing principle of our economy, politics and social circles. It won’t disappear overnight, but you can make a difference.

It won’t disappear overnight, but you can make a difference.

Share information about other people and organizations building vibrant inclusive communities.