Now if we were to see this in a newspaper before the historical occurrence on November 4, 2008, there would have been several reactions. Some black people would have thought that someone was playing a cruel racist joke and some white people, well white people would have been bewildered at the suggestion of such a thought. Not necessarily rejecting the thought but not being able to digest such a thought. Other races probably would have taken it as a joke, but at the same time insulted by the fact that their race or culture was not suggested for such a powerful position.
This is one of those moments that years from now people are going to ask the question, "Do you remember what you were doing when Barack Obama was elected the first African-American president of the United States of America?" Let me tell you what I was doing; I was at the gym working out. Many are confused by my avenue of celebration but there was a reason. Please understand I contemplated about what I was going to do at least two weeks prior and I just knew I was going out with my friends in a great celebration to this historical and breath taking occasion. But, after I cast my vote on Tuesday something came over me. I felt as if I needed to be within myself and really think about what this moment means to me.
Of course, I thought about my ancestors or "humanities ancestors"...I thought about their foot prints that are forever imprinted in the dirt roads of American history. The roads that were once filled with the pain of submission and the agony of turmoil but are now filled with the celebration of a new day. I raise my glass to humanities ancestors for challenging democracy, for if they had not, America probably would not have stood at attention towards the ills of this country.
I thought about the door that has just opened as a result of the movement of Barack Obama. It is not just a door for Black people to say to their children that they can be president. But it is a door which released a healing in the lives of Americans. It begins to heal the pains of African-Americans, a pain which circulates like a brute force throughout the African-American community. It begins to heal White Americans because it creates a bridge of connection which the ills of this country has tried to knock down. It heals other cultures and also immigrants because it lets them know that America is not a lie. That America really does give life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all citizens.
I am healing today. America is healing today. Humanity is being healed today.
Most importantly this movement and America's new president has heightened the spirit of hope. The spirit of hope can be stifled by the ills and pains of a person or of a country. But now the top has been lifted and hope is soaring. It is soaring to new heights and it does not just affect African-Americans, Whites, Hispanics, or Asians; it affects Americans. It affects Americans because when hope is soaring peace has no choice but to follow, joy has no choice but to follow, and love has no choice but to follow.
As Barack Obama is the commander in chief of this country; hope is presently the commander in chief of humanity. How long will it last? That can not be answered. I needed to be alone to make sure I was brave enough to submit myself to it. When one succumbs to the spirit of hope, you open yourself to possibilities of change. You change internally because you allow yourself to shun your fears, to release your pain, and to create your destiny.
I celebrate America this day. I feel closer to its soil and its mountain tops. I feel closer to its plains and its valleys. I feel closer to this dear land; the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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