Living just a few blocks away from Harlem, the epicenter of African American culture in the United States, the significance of Obamas victory rippled through the air here. Its amazing how many people just poured out onto the streets. I had a window of experiencing this thrilling historic moment, this dawn of a new era, of the first African American president-elect in US history, from the perspective of the African American community itself.
The excited screaming, shouting and overall sense of celebration was almost the atmosphere of a holiday. Yes, it got a bit rowdy. But, hey, this IS something to shout about.
That feeling of the American dream you always hear people talk about was practically tangible. People were high on hope over here. Random people were hugging on the street. Shouts of BO! BO! BO! and Yes we can! reverberated all around me.
The night came alive with people spilling over in a kind of jubilation and elation born from the struggles of many generations and many years
I passed by an African American woman literally coming undone absolutely sobbing from an apartment window high above my head. I craned my neck, barely making out her blurry face in the night. I heard her crying more than saw her face.
In some mystical sense, last night is what finally put an end to the Civil War. Im proud to be an American today where, even if it took hundreds of years, there is a sense of the possibility of repairing mistakes made.
Its been a long time a coming for the world to make an adjustment with regard to bigotry. Last night the world made a great adjustment.
And with it comes responsibility. In a sense, racism will no longer be able to serve as the crutch that it has for so many in the past. Blaming others for failures will be more difficult now that there is Obama to point to. He is (part) African American, and he made it to the highest office in the land.
I hope this will motivate and mobilize those in the African American community who lacked the feeling of being bonafide Americans, or who lacked the ambition to participate fully and responsibly in American life.
A random African American man was quoted on television saying something to this effect: Rosa Parks sat down so that Martin Luther King could stand and march. Martin Luther King marched so that Obama could run. And Obama ran so that my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren can fly someday.
I appreciate this historic aspect of the election, quite apart from my opinion or reservation about Obama as the elected leader of our country. Obama is so inspiring, he dazzles the crowds, speaks to the multitudes, and creates the aura of a vision. He talks a lot about change. He comes across as intelligent, eloquent, poised and patriotic.
But Im also skeptical. Is it all just about our Hollywood generation being dazzled by the charisma of a celebrity figure who looks good and speaks well? And change is a good thing. Change is important. But change for the sake of change is not necessarily the best thing.
Granted, many changes are warranted in our country. But what are some of the changes being talked about? Cutting down the military its a change, but is it necessarily a good change? Would it actually strengthen or weaken our country?
There is a danger to falling into the reactionary mode of changing things simply for the sake of change.
What about inviting our enemies to the shores of our country for talks? Is that helpful in terms of protecting us on our mainland or does it give over too soft an impression of goodwill and cooperation?
Obama, not being the stereotypical Caucasian American president, has captured the worlds attention. But here it is just one day after Obamas victory and already the message from Russia is that it intends to send missiles to the Polish border.
Iran wont be far behind in revealing its nuclear weapons while making preposterous and unethical demands on Israel.
At the end of the day, with all the mistakes President Bush may have made, we have been kept safe and secure here in the US under his leadership. Thank G-d there has not been an attack on our mainland since 9/11.
Bush has shown fortitude in sticking to his positions, even when unpopular. It will be interesting to see how, with time, history will judge President Bush. Truman was quite unpopular when he left office, yet today history passes judgment on him as a good president.
As was modeled by McCain a veteran and true American hero so graciously, with such dignity, class, and actually what to me is true leadership, in his concession speech, I do believe now is the time to set aside differences and focus on working together and caring about America.
I dont want to forsake the spirit of our country now, yet I must admit I find it a bit annoying to hear all the Democrats speaking about unity and working together, when for eight years they did anything but. Kicking and screaming for eight years, and now when it is on their terms self-righteously calling for team efforts.
There will come a day when we will have the perspective of time to know how all these changes taking place now will fit into the pages of American history, whether negative or positive.
For now, Im curious as well as catching the spirit of being hopeful, that it will all unfold positively for us.
