Where were you when...?

History is full of "Where were you when's?" Where were you when Kennedy was shot? Or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Where were you when the first man walked on the moon? Or the morning of September 11th? There are more, and when people live through such events, they can tell you many years and even decades later exactly where they were when it happened, how they felt, what they said, or couldn't find the words to say. They can tell you who they were with, even what they were wearing or eating.

I just watched tens of millions of Americans elect a black man as the 44th President of the United States of America. This election transcended race! No...an election doesn't do anything on it's own...the people of America transcended race in this election. For generations, we have lied to our young people; we have taught them that in American anybody can be anything they want to be, and today that is no longer a lie. We have risen from a nation once wrenched with slavery into a nation where all men truly are created equal. It has been a long, hard journey to get here, but we have reached another milestone...one most of us never thought we'd live to see take place. What about our grandparents who are still with us? They have seen much, much worse times than we have...I'm sure not one of them thought they'd ever see it in their lifetime.


I never stopped believing in Barack Obama's ability to lead this nation to unity, but I did stop having faith in the people. But I watched people celebrate last night. All kinds of people, all together (maybe not a whole lot of Republicans, but I didn't see the bitterness I thought I would see). In the midst of all the celebration, I was reminded of how much "coming together" it took to make this happen. (I'm just going to throw party unity out the window because I don't know that that will ever really happen, although there were many Republicans that crossed over for Obama in this election). But I watched people, young and old, black and white, rich and poor, all crying and jumping for joy and hugging one another. In those moments, there was no demographic that mattered to any of them. I didn't see any fights, or smoke in the distance. All I saw was unity. I saw people put their differences aside and come together for a common purpose.


I've got to come clean and say that although I did vote in this election, I chose not to vote for a President. Choosing not to choose was not an easy conclusion for me to draw. Policy-wise neither candidate had my full support, and that's the only way I, in good conscience, can vote. But my heart always wanted to see Obama stake his claim for America.


This country is forever changed...and we ARE headed in the right direction. If you read my previous blog, right now you are probably thinking I'm bi-polar; I assure you I am not. I just see things happen sometimes, awful things that make me shudder, things that quake me to my core. And when I'm lucky enough, I get to see something that contradicts it, and calms me down reminding me that it doesn't have to be as I imagined. Last night I was lucky enough to watch people come together, and I listened to our President-elect talk about change one more time. And all the fear and turmoil festering inside of me subsided. I have complete faith that this man will change America for the better (he's already surmounted tremendous obstacles, therein starting that cycle of change) and I once again have faith that the people will do what they can, too. I know we have to take it one baby step at a time, but we have just made a huge leap forward. I don't know how there can be anyone that isn't excited about that!


Many times I have expressed my gratitude to God for choosing this country and this period in time for me to be born into. I don't think I could have made it in any other time or place. I'd be too "soft" or too "rogue" or too any number of other things. And I have even more reason to be thankful today. I was born with this strong desire to see true racial equality. I can't even explain it. It wasn't something I had to be taught, I just knew what was right and what was wrong, I knew what should matter about a person and what shouldn't. And today a piece of that desire was satisfied. This is not only an important event for Americans in general, but this is an especially important event for black Americans. I could never begin to explain the depths of it's significance for black people in America because I will never be able to fully understand their struggle. And I would never cheapen it by pretending.


So, where were you when the people of America voted the first black man into the Presidency of the United States of America? For me, it was 8:01 PM PST on November 4, 2008 when Keith Olbermann announced the winner. I sat on the couch in my living room next to my husband, with a laptop in my lap and tears streaming down my cheeks. I wore a pink shirt with pink tweety bird pajama pants and stared at the television in awe, in disbelief, in amazement and pride and joy and hope. I could hardly speak; all I could say was, "America did it." Then I watched Barack Obama walk across the stage like he was born for this very purpose; he was born to break the barrier. This is a story I look forward to telling my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And I hope that as I tell them this story that it will blow their minds to even imagine that we once lived in a world where the color of a person's skin was such a big deal. Now, someday I will be able to tell my mulatto children that with dedication and hard work, they can be anything they want to be...even President of the United States. And it won't be a lie.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27546437#27546437 (Obama's victory speech)