Barack Obama: 44th President of the United States of America
Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States of America. This is truly amazing.
Does everything change because a Black man has been elected? No, everything does not change. Yes, everything does change.
When I was in Africa people kept asking me if Barack Obama could win. Has America changed? My response to them was that America has not changed, but that it has changed enough.
That's how change happens. I'm talking about lasting change. It is incremental. America is not what it was. But some of the people who supported the McCain-Palin ticket showed us that America has not completely abandoned its old ugly ways.
What's beautiful is that tolerance has won out over intolerance. Hope triumphed over fear. Multicultural beat out homogeneous whiteness.
It's yet another profound step in the right direction in terms of helping the country see that we're all just people. We have our differences, but we are all human beings. The country will learn much about African-Americans just by virtue of having one be the most visible American, the first citizen of the United States.
I had to grab my firstborn son and bring him downstairs. He was asleep. Too sleepy to really witness the event, but I wanted him to be there. He'll turn five this month. If Barack Obama is reelected in 2012, he'll be 13 years old when the first Black president comes out of office if the Lord should delay His coming.
His worldview will be very different than mine. He will see a president day after day and month after month that looks a lot like him. The ceiling is not the same for him and Winston. Not the same. Barack's presidency has just peeled away a level of perceived limitation for people of color.
43 presidencies have been White males. The 44th is a bi-racial (half black, half white) male.
This is a new day.
125,000 people gathered to witness the event in Chicago. Oprah Winfrey and Jesse Jackson were there. They were both crying. I am not exactly sure what was going through Jesse Jackson's mind.
Does everything change because a Black man has been elected? No, everything does not change. Yes, everything does change.
When I was in Africa people kept asking me if Barack Obama could win. Has America changed? My response to them was that America has not changed, but that it has changed enough.
That's how change happens. I'm talking about lasting change. It is incremental. America is not what it was. But some of the people who supported the McCain-Palin ticket showed us that America has not completely abandoned its old ugly ways.
What's beautiful is that tolerance has won out over intolerance. Hope triumphed over fear. Multicultural beat out homogeneous whiteness.
It's yet another profound step in the right direction in terms of helping the country see that we're all just people. We have our differences, but we are all human beings. The country will learn much about African-Americans just by virtue of having one be the most visible American, the first citizen of the United States.
I had to grab my firstborn son and bring him downstairs. He was asleep. Too sleepy to really witness the event, but I wanted him to be there. He'll turn five this month. If Barack Obama is reelected in 2012, he'll be 13 years old when the first Black president comes out of office if the Lord should delay His coming.
His worldview will be very different than mine. He will see a president day after day and month after month that looks a lot like him. The ceiling is not the same for him and Winston. Not the same. Barack's presidency has just peeled away a level of perceived limitation for people of color.
43 presidencies have been White males. The 44th is a bi-racial (half black, half white) male.
This is a new day.
125,000 people gathered to witness the event in Chicago. Oprah Winfrey and Jesse Jackson were there. They were both crying. I am not exactly sure what was going through Jesse Jackson's mind.
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