How Sweet It IS!!!

Now let me start by saying I never thought a black man would be president of the US in my lifetime. I thought it would occur, but just sometime after I died for 2 reasons: 1. I don't have the healthiest lifestyle. And 2, The US is a very racist country. And even if you discount the racism, it is unlikely that those in power are likely to give it up without a fight (or a revolution). So how did this happen? I can tell you how. GW has f----d up the country so badly that they said give it to the black ma. He can't do any worse.

By the time the election got here it was a foregone conclusion who would win. Sure, many of us still remember the 2000 election and Gore's loss, but that seemed very unlikely this election. I mean in some ways Gore deserved to lose. I think he even lost his home state!! SO I was quite prepared for the reality that the US would have a brother in the White House. Does that make it the black house now?? I digress.

I expected the euphoria that would come from the announcement. What I was not prepared for were some other emotions. I actually shed a tear. Yes. You heard it here. Big Mike broke the heck down. While people around me whooped it up, I found myself thinking about all the people I have known and been close to who never got to see this day. I thought of my brother who passed away in 2004. He was not a very political person, but I imagined how he might have reacted. What's more I thought about how the reality of the possibility of a black president could have changed so many lives, probably including my brother's. I started to think how likely it was that people's outlooks would change because of this most unlikely occurrence.

You know I used to want to be the first black president. When I was a young boy my mom brought home from work 2 sticker books: 1 was of great cats and the other was of presidents. I think I was only 6 years old at the time, but to this day my two passions are big cats and politics/government. So I looked through the sticker book and saw all the faces of people who looked decidedly unlike me, and I set out to become that first black president. Early on I knew the odds were long, but I still thought it was possible. I figured I would go to law school, become a lawyer (most presidents were lawyers I assumed), do some community work, get into Congress, then the Senate, and then bam I would run for president. Long odds but definitely not unattainable. At 6 I wanted to be president.

At 12 I thought maybe President is a bit too lofty. I could become a lawyer and go to Congress and then maybe become a mayor. At the time Lionel Wilson was mayor of Oakland. That showed that a black man could lead something, but probably couldn't be President. I mean realistically there had to have been some better black men than me out there and if they couldn't become president why should I think I could become the first one.

At 16 i decided I would become an accountant. This was in about 1982 and the US was emerging from the Carter years and the severe recession and general malaise that gripped the nation. Stagflation (both inflation and unemployment) had sopped the life out of most urban environments and my goal in life was to just get a damn job once I finished high school or college. How my sights had been lowered.

I guess the point is now instead the theoretical understanding that in America supposedly anything is possible, my family and the families of other people of color can actually see a tangible representation of the hope. I think in a lot of ways this shows that the US is growing up. This is not to imply that I think we have reached some Nirvana. It is more a realization that America is not so stupid that it will continue to do the same old thing yet expect different results. It shows America is advanced enough to reach or look outside the box of what has been to embrace the possibility of what could be. That is growth indeed.

So now, let the good times roll. Happy Days are here again. That is of course not true. There are a lot of serious issues facing our country. Issues that BO may not be able to resolve in his first or even his second term. My only hope is that he gives it a try and that he truly does represent some outside of the box thinking. I must say that my heart burst forth with a lot of racial pride at his election. But once the counting was done BO truly did become president of all of us. he is not a black president anymore, he is just The President (well actually president-elect until Jan. 20). So now I have to expect of him what I would of any other president, make my life better without freaking killing me with taxes!!! You do that, I will sing your praises forever. You don't, then I will take my vote elsewhere.

(Just kidding BO. You know you can count on me for at least 2 votes, just like this year.)

PEACE OUT!!!