Election Reflection



In the immortal words of legendary soul singer Sam cook "It's been a loooooong . . . a long time comin. . . "

So it's sunk in now. Barring any tragic events Barack Obama will be sworn in on Jan 20th as the 44th president of the United States of America. 400+ years in the making, a perfect storm of historical ironies and practical calamities and divine intervention has delivered a truly "African-American" to the White House.

He will arrive in office with a soaring national debt, defuct free market economy, environmental disater on the horizon and two wars going on simultaniously. He will aslo take office with a landslide electoral mandate, a bulging democratic majority, and a network of support with deeper roots and broader breath than any president I can recall, a command of language not seen since Roosevelt, and a bully pullpit the size of grant Park. Oh yeah. . . don't forget Michelle.

 

I, like thousands of others across the country spent the final days before Nov. 4th canvassing for the final push. I met people from NY, Cali, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois and evrywhere else you could image, who took off work and hit the pavement. Thank you.

A woman I ran into in cleveland's infamous Huff neighborhood had been keep a running tally of all her relatives who had voted.
"152 and counting" counting she said.
I cracked a smile and she touched my shoulder saying "Thank you".
I responded in turn and started to the next house when she called out
"how old do you think I am?"

she didn't look a day over forty and I said so, and she told me that she was in her sixties, that her grandchilren had cast their ballots and she still remembered Birmingham & Montgomery. Shocked, I stopped in my tracks.  She bent over and lifted her pant leg and there was the scar.

"Thank You!" She repeated again with a smile and a tear.



I finshed my third canvassing shift and headed back to watch returns with family and friends. I was the youngest in the group of about 8 volunteers, Lawyers, and neighborhood folk, and as time passed people just kept walking up, calling, and coming down. They brought chips, wine, pizza, champaigne and stories. We watched people across the world watching us; cheering for us. By the time they called Ohio there were 20 of us, and we went crazy. Screaming, shouting, crying, dancing, embracing, and thanking God that 3 generations gathered in a room, and children without the weight of centurys past could be joyous and be surrounded by it, at this moment in (Black) world history.



Promtly afterward cell phones broke out and we all called those we wanted to share that moment with, but there was a solemn resolution to the end of the evening that was reflected in Obama's victory speech. This is just and opportunity to make real changes. Things will likey get worse before they get better, and will not get better at all if people do not pay attention, stay involved and keep the pressure on, but I do feel a little stronger.