I never had to struggle with the kind of racial injustice that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., fought. I never faced the vicious discrimination and bigotry. In fact, I was a young kid in Pocatello when our nation first celebrated Dr. King’s birthday.
That first holiday came in 1986. At the time, I was focused on schoolwork and friends and the sorts of things that consume a young person’s life.
I do recall clearly many of the different paths that I traveled since then. I learned to hunt near Arco. I learned to fly fish on Henry’s Fork of the Snake. I rode snowmobiles and dirt bikes in Island Park. I had a cashier job at the mall as a kid. While I enjoyed exploring Idaho public lands, I was also benefiting from a very good public education. So, when I was able to attend a PAC 12 school and compete with top athletes in track and field events, I never struggled with the course work. I recall becoming the first person in my family to earn a college degree.
Since then, I’ve had a meaningful career as a lawyer. I’ve started my own successful business. I’ve raised a family. I have stepped forward to run as a candidate to become Idaho’s next lieutenant governor.
What I can reflect back on is just how much opportunity I enjoyed growing up in Idaho. I now have a daughter in Idaho public schools who is about the same age that I was back in 1986. At the very least I want her to have the same opportunities that I had. In fact, that’s something I want for all of our children.
I am where I am today—which is a place I am proud to be—because I had opportunities created by an excellent public education system and I was free to chase my dreams.
I never had racial injustice standing in the way as I worked to make a life. No one’s child should have to deal with that. No one’s parents should have to. I believe that we will all be freer and happier when every person gets the same chances to succeed regardless of their race, gender, age or disability.