As I sat with my grandchildren, my husband, my daughter and her husband, and watched history being made last night, it was almost impossible for me to keep myself from crying. Why? Because I began to think back over MY lifetime and remember when bathrooms were labeled "Black" and "white;" when water fountains were labeled "Black" and "white;" when hotels did not service "Black" people; when you couldn't use the bathroom at a gas station; when the back of the bus was where we sat; when our schools received books that white schools threw away; when hospitals were specified "white" or "colored;" when store clerks ignored us until there were no more white people in the store, then we got waited on; when our children were relegated to second-class citizenship just because they were Black; when my beloved grandfather was never "Mr.," he was either "boy" or "Uncle;" when my precious grandmother never heard herself referred to as "Mrs.;" and finally, when we couldn't sit at the lunch counter and order food nor could we try on clothes and shoes at the stores we frequented. All of this, IN MY LIFETIME!
But this is not to lament the past or blame anyone for it. This is to praise the future....come....
And here we are, in 2008, in the same country, where last night a Black man was nominated for the highest office in the land....can you imagine how I am feeling right now? Last night I cried. I cried because I was so happy, so thrilled, and so proud of my country. I cried because now, my grandsons know, IN THEIR LIFETIMES, that they CAN be or do ANYTHING, including aspiring to become THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! Do you know how I feel? I am elated. We danced last night, we laughed last night, we talked about the past last night, friends called from around the country last night, because it was an historic moment. There was much jubilation in my house and the houses of friends and family last night.
Barack Obama, the man who nobody thought would or could do it, DID IT! He has brought pride back, and I know that his shoulders must feel like they weigh a ton because of everything that has been placed on them.
I'm from the old school and memories just keep flooding back....the deaths of people who only wanted to vote; the deaths of those who were helping them vote; lynchings; rapes; fires; and yet, here we are! None of those things stopped progress, stopped the need for a people to be made whole, stopped the desire for a people to see themselves reflected in their country, stopped a people from continuing to try, to struggle, to accept and defeat challenges, to continue to move forward, and, to be.
Yessir, my grandmother and grandfather are probably dancing in the aisles now. I can hear my grandmother now, softly singing, "Precious Lord," and my grandfather, ever the naysayer, still not believing. Even though they didn't live to see this, I DID! My children did! But more than that, my grandchildren did! Although my children knew it was coming. I, on the other hand, ever the cynic, held out very little hope that I would ever live to see it! You don't know, you don't know!
Barack Obama, the man with the funny name, the big ears, who was born and raised in Hawaii, who lived in Indonesia, whose father was from Kenya, whose mother was white from Kansas, is our hope for the future. All of us....you, me, our children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors, family members....all of us!
It doesn't matter what the main stream media have to say; it doesn't matter what the idiotic pundits have to say; it doesn't matter what those naysayers have to say. This is it! We are, in this country, today, on a path of repair, redemption, hope, love, caring, and acceptance. That really is a big load for the shoulders of one person, but with our help, and the help of his fantastc VP, we can do this! We will do this!
YES. WE. CAN.
Now, on the other hand, I don't want you to mistake me for Pollyanna, because I know that there are those out there whose wish was that this did not happen. They are out there, but I am giving them no quarter today! Today, we celebrate a battle well-fought and won, and a war still in front of us that we can, and will, win. Why? Because our path is right....we are right....and for the first time in history, we KNOW we are right! We don't have to hold our collective nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. We don't have to pick the second best. We don't have to make a choice between Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Not this time. We have a clear, intelligent choice who we have all worked for, and who we will continue to work for, until we take back the White House and our country.
IN. MY. LIFETIME.
Thank you, America! For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country (or has that line already been taken?) and I mean that! As a people, we have truly come a long way, and its' been a journey filled with sadness, anger, jubilation, hurt, pain, embarrassment, tears, and happiness. But we stayed on that path until we got here, and here is what we have all fought so hard for....the culmination of a dream!
GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!