I slept at 2am today. It didn’t seem that tiring to stay up this late to watch the Inauguration compared to the 8 dreadful years of the Bush administration. It is a different air that we breathe today. It really isn’t just about skin colour and race. It’s really us, I think, that have changed.
Obama may be the leader of the movement, but because leaders were chosen in this instance by many, many other people, we have this monumental shift in our bearings and our standing so much so that the old era is almost unrecognisable, well as least to me. Who outside America isn’t rooting for America now? And what a huge difference this is compared to the years of wasted goodwill from the rest of the world.
Obama may be the leader of the movement, but because leaders were chosen in this instance by many, many other people, we have this monumental shift in our bearings and our standing so much so that the old era is almost unrecognisable, well as least to me. Who outside America isn’t rooting for America now? And what a huge difference this is compared to the years of wasted goodwill from the rest of the world.
I introduced Obama in three English classes today. Slavery, Lincoln, , Civil War, Segregation, Parks, Civil Rights, Dr King; and the intertwining of Obama’s story. 40 years after King’s death, someone had the audacity of hope to run, and win the general elections, someone who also believes in the same dream, that one day we’ll be judged not by the colour of our skin, but by the content of our character. Obama demonstrated that in the general election. The campaign was masterful, classy, intelligent, competent. It was Presidential.
So where do we go from here? And I don't mean just Americans, but people all over the world. I think it means that we have to change, if we haven’t already. We have to see the world through new eyes, to find new ways of solving our problems. We shall be hopeful. We will tell our kids that anything is possible, for just today, a Black man became President, and thus his Blackness became less relevant. It's his character and competance that is more important. And I think we have plenty of that in President Obama. Yes we can!
So where do we go from here? And I don't mean just Americans, but people all over the world. I think it means that we have to change, if we haven’t already. We have to see the world through new eyes, to find new ways of solving our problems. We shall be hopeful. We will tell our kids that anything is possible, for just today, a Black man became President, and thus his Blackness became less relevant. It's his character and competance that is more important. And I think we have plenty of that in President Obama. Yes we can!
