FIRST.

WORDS.

"...longing for the end of firsts, for the moment when the achievement of an African American, or a woman, or a gay man will have become a matter of routine.

In this sense, the fifth woman to sit on the Supreme Court, or the third openly gay senator, or the second African American president, will be as significant as the first. The critical mass of 20 women senators matters, a lot. On the flip side, so does the near-total absence of African Americans (there are, briefly, two, neither elected to the post: Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina and Democrat Mo Cowan of Massachusetts).

The goal should be to get to the point where what once seemed remarkable will have become no big deal. Because that, in itself, will be an awfully big deal."

THE WASHINGTON POST: Collins and Napravnik bring us closer to last ‘first’