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It has been less than two hours since it was announced that Senator Barak Obama had been elected the next President of the United States of America.
It has been a most interesting two hours.
There are few moments in one's life when one knows that one has just witnessed history which truly matters. Not the history of losing the Super Bowl on the one yard line or of the moment when workers from the British side and the French side of the Chunnel finally shook saw each others far below the surface of the English Channel, but the history of something which has just changed the country and possibly has just changed the world. In my lifetime, there have been very few of those moments: the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the terrorist attacks of September 11, the capture of a former Iraqi President, and now the election of the first non-Caucasian to lead the United States.
Granted I am not old enough to have experienced separate water fountains and sitting at the back of a bus. Granted I have effectively been colorblind for all my life, with friends of many races and genders and orientations and economic backgrounds and levels of education. Granted just because of my own skin color and lifestyle I have straddled socioracial and even intraracial expectations for my entire life. Damn this feels good -- really, amazingly good -- but at the risk of being insanely pessimistic, I am also fearful, based on personal experience. With 9/11, the "Other" was raised in this country as the specter of everything bad and potentially even evil, and those who looked different were attacked or killed, or at least run out of town. In 1995, I was fortunate enough to live in Paris during the presidential campaign which ultimately saw Jacques Chirac elected to his first term as the President of France, and because I clearly look different from the majority of people in France, during that eye-opening period of my life, I had to always look over my shoulder at all times, night or day, in every neighborhood of the vast city and its suburbs, because of a few diehard radicals across the country who were attacking those who did not look like them.
This nation has definitely come a long, long way. Before his illness, my grandfather would spend time tracing the family genealogy as a hobby, and while I never cared much for genealogy, I wonder now what the earlier generations of the family would think of this moment. I wonder what my great-grandfather would think, for, having been born in 1900, he saw so much of history which actually mattered: airplanes revolutionizing travel and effectively shrinking distances between places and peoples, global-scale death and destruction in two World Wars, the end of colonialism, the rise and fall of greatly-held ideologies and forms of government, the right to vote given to those who were not Caucasian males in this country, women being heralded and respected as rightful leaders on the world stage.
My great-grandfather and my ancestors did not live to see this day. They would certainly be proud of how this country -- and ostensibly this world -- changed tonight. Yet I fear that they, like me, would also recognize the danger that they would face, as I do again now, just as I did in France thirteen years ago.
That last point is what I fear most, both for the Obama family and for everyone who looks "different." In 2001 and for many years afterward, I lived in the Southwest -- not a place with a historical trend of prejudice and violence toward minorities -- and cringed at reports of those who looked "different," especially those who "looked Arabic," being attacked or killed just for how they looked even though they might not have a single drop of Arabic blood. That is the risk that this groundbreaking election has now unleashed upon the United States: another sad period of danger, with minorities, but especially those of African descent, always looking over their shoulders for a time, always fearful that a diehard radical will strike and that they will be the victims. That fear must certainly be prevalent for the Obama family, and the Secret Service definitely has a major challenge ahead for the next four or more years.
Then again, this country was not founded without significant and life-changing risk. Without risk, there is no reward. This country has just received a significant reward, and the "different" everywhere have just received a significant reward as well. It is a reward of seeing oneself in the most powerful position in the country. Whether one is Caucasian or Asian or Arabic or Latin or Martian, whether one is female or male or other, whether one is bisexual or homosexual or heterosexual, whether one is rich or poor, there will soon be a new face in the White House, and that face will announce to the country and to the world that anything is possible, that anyone can achieve the loftiest of goals, and that the United States truly has become the fabled Melting Pot.
Congratulations to Senator Obama, and congratulations especially to everyone who voted, for the voters have made this moment both important and historic.
- COMMENTS
rockslydeabout 14 years agoI'm genuinely stunned that you fear for Obama's safety, especially from a racial standpoint. I'm older than you, and perhaps growing up in a different region of the U.S., I wasn't exposed to racism that you seem to have witnessed. This is 2010, and with all due respect, I think that opposition to Obama, is based almost entirely upon his Idealogy. For many, using the race card is a rhetorical tactic. Your use of the word "radical" is, perhaps, the most puzzling to me. You, portray this country as one in which "diehard radicals" are lurking about, waiting for an opportunity to murder innocent ethnic minorities. Perhaps your fears are genuine, but the facts show that this is quite rare. It's not my intent to piss you off, but, historically, the democrat party is the refuge of racists and biggots, from George Wallace, Bull Connor, Lester Maddox, William Fulbright (Clinton's mentor), Al Gore Sr., (who led a filibuster against the civil rights act of 1964) to current Sen. Robert S. Byrd of W.V, (Former Grand Kleigel of the KKK) who also filibustered the civil rights act of 64. BTW, for a long time the KKK was synonomous with the Democrat party.
I wonder why it does'nt occur to some people that changing a prosperous capitalist nation into a Soviet style, socialist nation, Isn't considered radical.
Aside from that, I love your stories and look forward to reading more of them when i have time. You're a superb writer!
Anonymousabout 14 years agoColin Powell should have been our first black President. The man is amazing and would have been a great president. However, he feared what it would to his family with how nasty it gets for a black Republican to run for office. He wasn't worried about White Conservatives, he was worried about black and white democrats. All one need to do is look at how the Democrats have gone after people like Michael Steele when he ran for office. It's vile and repugnant.
It's been over a year now and Barack Obama has proven to be 4 more years of Bush on so many levels. I hope the next President that is elected in 2012 is better.
wife2hotblkover 15 years agoYour essay was a wonderful of the reflective style. I found it fascinating.
mjm202036over 15 years agoI didn't read all the comments, but I noticed that several mentioned many of the reasons I did not vote for President-elect Barrack Obama. But I see that a lot of people who apparently were his supporters consider that "hate-filled" comments, just because they didn't support him. I will now support President-elect Barrack Obama when he becomes president, as I would any President of the United States of America that truly does "uphold and defend the Constitution," as he will promise to do in his oath of office.
I do see the significance of having the first ever president of that is not white. I think it is about time that we had proved to, not just the world, the racists of this country that we will not let their racist views dictate our lives, but what is scary is that some people voted for President-elect Barrack Obama because he is black and for no other reason. That is not the reason to elect a President of the United States.
As for the "Change" that was promised, now that it is the end the beginning of December, just under a month since his election to office, President-elect Barrack Obama has chosen almost nothing but Washington insider and former-Clinton staff members. Did everyone who voted for "Change" want to go back to the Clinton era?
So, I have high hopes for the President-elect, but I think all of us will have to wait and see what happens over the next four years. I don't see an uprising in this country over us having a President who isn't white. As a matter of fact, I don't see an uprising at all. I just see American's accepting that we have a new President and hope that he will be a good one.
So, great essay, WFEATHER, but I don't agree with your belief that America will be torn apart by the election of a non-white President. I would even be surprised to see an increase in the assaults on non-whites by whites in this country. I'm sorry you feel so prejudiced by past experiences in other countries.
Anonymousover 15 years agoSo many negative comments here, this country has a long way to go to resolve race relations
Anonymousover 15 years agoVery well written. I will give you credit for that. Not much else, though.
There were no hate-killings in this country after 9/11. I lived in Virginia at the time and I have never been more proud of this country most especially our children. They went to school every day in Northern Virginia (a true melting pot of society) and cried with their friends of every race color and creed over the deaths of so many parents (our school lost 7).
Fear? Absolutely the adults felt fear just as we felt fear during the "sniper" months, but no one went out and randomly killed people who looked Arabic. Nor did we run them out of town. They were neighbors, friends and co-workers and they grieved with us.
I sincerely hope for all our sakes that Obama is what those who voted for him believe him to be. It would have been better for all of us however, if our first black president was qualified for the job.
Go back to school and relearn!
Anonymousover 15 years agoWe missed both of these when we passed up Ron Paul. McCain and Obama were two typical, run-of-the-mill Washington insiders; they have no new ideas, they have no interesting outlooks, they offer nothing but more of the same policies that have been slowly draining us for decades. How can we get change from a Senator who went on and on about expanding 1960's-era programs? How can we get hope from someone who spent the last year and more telling us how boned we are, how everyone needs a giant government handout to survive year to year, how successful businesses are evil, etc? Re-electing Bush, Carter, Nixon, Johnson, Clinton, Reagan, or the elder Bush wouldn't be called change at all, so why pick a mini-me of any of them?
Anonymousover 15 years agoSadly, the collection of comments proved your main point: be afraid! Even if this collection of mostly vociferous hate racist talk combined with mind numbing nonsense of “extreme left” represents only a small percentage of this country, it has been proven more than once that the cancer of racism is alive and well (hopefully slowly fading) with the older generation. Still, I have no doubt that for the foreseeable future, groups like the Neo Nazis, the KKK and other miscellaneous “white supremacists” should be constantly watched by our dedicated agents of law enforcement, to keep them from spewing their potentially lethal venom. Better keep them under their rocks..
