Sandwiched between the countdown for President-elect Barack Obama to assume office and the controversy surrounding the seating of Roland Burris in the U.S. Senate, some may have noticed that the Colorado General Assembly was making a little history of its own.

With the swearing-in Wednesday of Terrance Carroll as speaker of the state House of Representatives, the legislature is the first to have blacks head both chambers. Senate President Peter Groff was first elected to his position a year ago.

When I saw the story on CNN Wednesday, I smiled. I didn’t jump up and down. I just smiled.

This happened in a legislature, according to published reports, in which Carroll and Groff are the only black legislators and in a state with a black population of about 4 percent.

“Americans have sent a clear message to their political leaders: We don’t care where you come from, what color your skin is, or what party you belong to. We care only how you can move us forward,” Carroll said.

I hope Carroll is right.

These are very hard times and we need the best and brightest to guide us through a very vexing and growing minefield. Too many people have lost jobs, financial security and trust in our institutions. We don’t have time to waste on politics and business as usual.

Obama, Carroll, Groff and their contemporaries are proof of changing times, and the fruit of the efforts of  predecessors  who fought in various ways to get a collective foot in the door of opportunity. Unfortunately not everyone is sharing in those fruits.

“What makes America great is that the fabric of our community is sewn together by a single thread. That thread is called opportunity,” Carroll told his colleagues Wednesday.

We still have much work to do to make sure that thread of opportunity stays strong and continues to grow.

– Vivian D