Yes We Did

I can not believe that it has taken me so long to write this post, but I want to take a moment to reflect on how incredible it was to see Barack Obama elected. Geoffrey and I had made plans to go out that night to the convention center and watch the results come in. We were going to make a date of it. Despite the fact that Obama was ahead in the polls, I was sure that it would be a long night. I didn't trust the polls after the last election. Nathaniel brought us dinner and we all ate and watched the early results then Nathaniel put Malcolm to bed and Geoffrey and I went out to a coffee shop where I knew the results would be on TV. We had hardly settled into our mochas at 8:00pm Pacific time when the electoral count went to 284 and the coffee shop erupted in joyful screams. I was so shocked! I could not believe that it could be over so early! That it was real, and that unlike the election of 2000 where the initial results were later reversed, that it would not be taken away. Geoffrey started screaming in the streets nad the neighbors around the coffee shop joined him. As we drove to the convention center we heard John McCain's concession speech on the radio and called my mom on Geoffrey's cell phone. When we entered the convention center there was amazing drumming playing and Geoffrey stopped and had his picture taken with the drummers who were also protesting the war in Iraq. When we finally settled into a room to watch the acceptance speech, the enormity of the event came over me. Malcolm, you will never know what it is to grow up in a world where a Black man like you can not be president. You will hear stories that I tell you about the experiences I had growing up, or that your grandmother tells you about the freedom rides, and how you and I and Sequoia and your Godmother and many others all worked hard organizing for Obama to make a change, but now you will grow up with so many more possibilities! The next day I saw Jesse Jackson interviewed. He had the sort of after glow that follows only momentous occasions like the birth of your child or great political achievements. His face reflected his years, his relief, and his many exposed spiritual and emotional wounds. He said that he could not sleep the night before. The cameras showed the video footage watching Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Grant Park the night before, tears were streaming down his face. He talked about what this meant for him and how he remembered his grandfather a Black man that could not even read, and now a Black man could be president. Later I saw an interview with Andrew Jackson who said that Martin Luther King did not even believe that Black people would make into Congress until Malcolm's generation. He talked about the pain of the civil rights movement and for the first time, I really came to understand and appreciate how much my parents' generation suffered. I began to understand why my mother still will not tell me what happened to her on the freedom rides. I began to understand why Jesse Jackson made inappropriate remarks under his breath. I know my own pain from racism, but I have never seen a whites only bathroom or drinking fountain. To me that reality lies only in stories and story books and for Malcolm a time when race or gender alone determines your ability to take public office will lie only in stories and story books. For so long I have felt outside of the US, but suddenly I feel completely a part of it. For the first time I feel that this is my country too, I am excited to make phone calls to decision makers and to participate in my government and to make it work for my children and the world. For the first time in a long time, I feel that we as a people can come together look at the reality of what divides us and overcome it. We have a long way to go, but I must thank this Senator from Illinois for giving hope back to me, so that I can also bare the burden of working so hard to make this world better for my son. Thank you Mr. President-Elect for showing me that yes we shall overcome. In fact Yes, we did!