If There Is Anyone Out There...
… who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. Where were you last night? What’d you think of the speech?
… who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
Where were you last night? What’d you think of the speech?
Wait, so, i thought during the campaigning we weren’t allowed to use something as simple as race as our deciding factor, and if we did then we were ostracized. Now Mr. Obama has been elected, and everyone is joyous that an African American finally got voted in, regardless of his experience??? So it really does come down to a Black / White thang!
Shahn, we were surprised because of the last 2 elections. If I may speak for the neurotic folks around the country, this seemed too good to be true. Not just a Democrat in the White House again, but a GREAT politician and a GREAT man. Not just that, but the first African American! I’m still pinching myself.
And what does this mean to me? I get to stay in the country and I’m thrilled!
MM very interesting that not seeing each others 10:22 & 10:26 posts we used the same adjectives to describe Obama. Calm and Intelligent. Could it be our ancestors channeling their thoughts through us – in Gullah no less? Mine were from Beaufort as well.
I was on my way back from Philadelphia where a group of friends and I spent the day yesterday volunteering for the Obama campaign to help get out the vote. I’m surprised that people were surprised at all by his win. Exit polls have been showing a strong lead for a while.
It was a nice speech and not overly congratulatory.
I was sitting slumped and exhausted on the floor of my living room with my husband and brother, on the phone with my mom and dad, who live in Indiana and have worked tirelessly over the last several months to try to turn that redder than red bastion of conservatism to blue, with tears coursing down my face.
One of my favorite parts of the speech was his tribute to his family – his grandmother, the new puppy his daughters have earned, and Michelle being the rock of their family and the love of his life. The speech was beautiful and captured everything we needed at that moment.
My best friend then called from the streets of Ft Greene where she was walking with her boyfriend, and we could hear the screams of joy and the honking and the “YES WE DID”‘s through the phone. Then we saw the footage of people in Kenya reacting to the news and even my husband began weeping.
We have plenty of time in the years ahead to get down to business and level-headedness, but Karo25, why must we “relax” right now? At this extraordinary and emotional and earth shaking moment in history? Perhaps the most politically and collectively joyous moment in our lifetimes?
I personally will be too happy and relieved and energized to relax anytime soon.
No karo25, Obama being African American is not the only point and it is clear that it took more than African Americans to get him elected. The fact that Americans of all races, ages, colors, genders, religions and creeds decided to take a chance on a man with calm and intelligence who was not well known on the national political scene but who ran an excellent campaign, who also happens to be African American, is our President-elect is phenomenal. To pretend that it is not ignores our countries past and dishonors all of those who have fought so hard to hold us to the values upon which our great nation was founded.
I’m with Disco and Snappy. Yes, I put that in a sentence. 🙂 I was crying with everyone else. You can’t imagine the pride of the moment.
Most black people don’t spend every moment of every day, thinking about the legacy of slavery in this country. We’re too busy, and most of us are in the business of moving forward towards our goals, not dwelling in the past. But every day, we live with that legacy, from trying to catch a cab, to seeing some of our neighbors just barely existing, with no education, no chance of lifting themselves up, and no hope. We see the crowds at Republican gatherings with not a single black face in sight (or any other minorities, either), and we see time and again, the powers that be try to foist one unfairness or another on our communities or persons, unfairnesses that would not even be brought up in other communites.
We see ourselves reflected in our popular culture and sports, but rarely in our boardrooms or laboratories. We are in all parts of American society, but are used to spotting ourselves as the one black person in the commercial, the one black orchestra member, the one black ballerina at ABT, or the one black astronaut. On the shortest month of the year, we bring out the lists of the “firstsâ€, and Barack Obama will be at the head of next year’s Black History month’s list. Deservedly and proudly so. What he has achieved, with the help of millions of Americans of all races, creeds and colors, ages and orientations, has truly made history, and I am proud. Perhaps now, we will be able to throw the list away, and begin to just be Americans doing the best in what we do.
I am proud for my mother, and her forebearers, sharecroppers from Beaufort, SC. I wept with Jesse Jackson, with whom I have issues, but in his face I saw his memories of Dr. King, Coretta Scott King, and all of the Civil Rights patriots who died to make this day possible. I teared up as Andrew Young’s voice broke in an interview, and as President- Elect Obama mentioned 103 year old Daisy Newsome. I went outside and sat on my steps and cried as people all up and down my block shouted, cheered and honked their horns.
The election of Barack Obama means that African-Americans are no longer unwanted guests in our own country. It’s a symbolic victory, and also a victory for all of the people who want to take this country in a 21st century direction, towards a better place for all of us. Obama not only won the leadership of the most powerful country in the world, he won it at a time when we are looking at more problems, crises, and challenges than perhaps at any time in generations. Thank the Lord he is highly intelligent, a calm thinker as well as doer, and surrounded by some of the best in their fields. He will be what Nelson Mandela turned out to be, a great man, a healer, and an inspiration to all to strive to be the best, and to do the best, not only for ourselves, but for our families, neighbors, communities, our nation and the family of man. That’s a lot to pile on one skinny guy, but as we’ve seen, anything is possible.
Karo25, you are correct that Obama’s skin color is not the only perk to his being elected. But, you must understand the importance this election carries for black people throughout this country. As you well know, black Americans have grown up looking at white faces on the money and in that all important residence at 1600 PA Ave. Many generations of white people, knowingly or unknowingly, have taken for granted that they could achieve such status because it had always been done. For us, it was a distant dream that we dared not hope too much for. Yes, an Obama victory is a victory for all of the middle class, for all who struggle in one way or another, but for people of color, it means so much more. And that cannot be denied.
Was it me or did Obama start to fight tears himself? I couldn’t image not tearing up that his Grandmother couldn’t see him make history.
My mother said something very important to me last night. She said “He may not change everything and he may even not help everyone, but he has unified a nation and when you can do that you’ve already succeeded.”
I see great things happening in the next 4 years.