Originally posted on January 21, 2009 - Wednesday
Current mood: jubilant
Category: News and Politics
As the
timeless music of Queen blasts through my truck on my drive to work this
morning, I reflect on all the historic events of yesterday. In my opinion, if
Chief Justice John Roberts hadn’t screwed up the Presidential Oath of Office,
the 44th presidential inauguration would’ve been nearly perfect. I don’t blame
him though, I’d be nervous too. And speaking
of that error the Chief Justice made, it was apparent that Obama recognized the
error in his wording immediately, which I thought was another point for
him in the ‘readiness’ category. I have to say
some of the most interesting inaugural images yesterday, were those of past
presidents. I was surprised by the frailty of George Bush Sr. and the spryness
of former president Jimmy Carter (whom was immediately recognizable to
me-even after all these years). It was even cooler to see the first
president I ever voted for, Bill Clinton, included in this politically eclectic
mix. To me, it was
a fascinating mixture of the old and new; old faces,
“values” and principles mixed with the excitement of new faces, values
and principles. This is a very cool world to live in now. Being young
and learning in grade school about the atrocities of slavery, the near
obliteration of Native Americans, The Nazis, even disastrous events like The
Hindenburg and The Titanic, you never think you’ll ever see anything that huge
and significant in your lifetime. However, our ‘newer’ world is filled
with images of hateful bigotry before/during/after The Civil Rights Movement,
Segregation, even The Jonestown Massacre but those events were before
some of our lifetimes, not by much though. Then the NEW world, my
world, includes images of The Oklahoma City (Federal building) Bombing,
Columbine, September 11th and the Hurricane Katrina after-effects. And really,
those were just a few of the amazing and mind-blowing realities of ‘our
time’. I’ve seen so
many things I could’ve never imaged while learning of the history of our world
as a child. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around it sometimes but I’m
grateful for it too. If history teaches us anything, it’s that anything can
happen. Scary and sublime isn’t it? Anyway, my
employer was kind enough to supply our building with a large screen projection
television to watch the inauguration yesterday. Most of my co-workers went to
watch with the masses but I didn’t want to. A few of them watched on my computer
for a few minutes, while urging me to go with them but I just couldn’t. I didn’t
want to miss 1 second walking down to the cafeteria (to watch) but there are
other reasons too. While it’s true that I’m the only African American on my
team, that’s not exactly why I didn’t want to join them. For the record, I
don’t feel ‘out of place’ at work and I love my co-workers a lot.
It’s just that the Obama Experience is deeply personal to me, as I’m sure
it is for millions, probably billions, of others. I just didn’t want to share
any of it with anyone. I wanted to selfishly drink it all in without outside
interruptions. I wanted to be filled with pride, immense amazement and joyful
tears without witnesses or innocent curiosity of what all this means to me.
Thankfully, I got to do just that (for the most part). The historical
images of yesterday are forever burned on my brain. Speaking of
history, I can say with all sincerity and seriousness that my parents are two of
the most fascinatingly progressive people on the planet. If you heard some of
the stories and experiences from their youth, you’d be in paralyzed
anticipation waiting for the conclusion. It’s no wonder
that all four of their kids are as original and unique as they are. Our family
dynamic is quite exceptional I must confess. The family dynamic I speak
of, is not all good stuff either but my roots (and DNA) are something
I’ve come to really appreciate about my misunderstood, sometimes scary,
personality. My parents talked about their own experiences of picking cotton and
segregation, as unimportant details in a bigger, more fascinating story they’d
be telling. I guess to them, it was what it was. It’s just
weird to know that my cool and hip parents lived through something like that,
and in their lifetimes, they see the history-making present we’re all
living now. It blows my socks off and humbles me at the same time. It makes me
love my crazy life even more. I’m sure not everyone will internalize what an
exciting time this is. Some people will only see the race part of this
and while that’s relevant, it’s so much more than that. You can say
what you want but it is nice to know that the rug rats I’ll end up
having, will never know a world in which the president of the United States
cannot be a person of color. It’s actually possible that my children (and their
children) may be relevant, successful and history-making without having to be a
comedian, rapper or athlete. I’m not knocking those things, it just gets to be a
bit cliché at times. Granted, I was
first ‘introduced’ to Barack Obama years ago while watching an episode of Oprah
(of which I hardly ever watch). While describing him (Obama) to a friend after
that show years ago, I proclaimed to her “That
man is tight!” Though I think I actually used the word
“brotha” instead of “man”. As he spoke, I was sincerely taken
aback by his intelligence and his personal experiences. I was completely riveted
by him and most people don’t draw my attention like he did…not for very long
anyway. I knew even then, that he was destined for great things, I just didn’t
fully appreciate how great at the time. It’s been a
long time since I’ve written this much in one month. Truthfully, I’m not really
in “blog mode” today but I really feel like I needed to write this. I suppose I
wanted to write this entry as a time-stamped reminder of the excitement I feel
right now. The excitement I feel, is over the possibility of a greater
world…for everyone. It says a great deal about hope for the future, when
leaders all of the world are lining up to be “friends” with our new president.
These same countries wouldn’t dare initiate talks with America after The Cold
War and most recently, during the Bush administration. Now though, there’s a
different message and a renewed ideal. The bright beacon proudly shining to the
world that America is ‘under new management’ has the makings of a
fantastic first step. While
internally compiling all my ideas for this entry, the thing I thought about most
was a story my sister told me about one of her co-workers and the presidential
election late last year. Sis’ co-worker is a proud Republican, nothing wrong
with that. She (sis’
co-worker) is stuck in that ignorant ‘good ole boy’ way of doing things whether
it makes sense or not, and was very vocal about voting for McCain/Palin. If
you’re stuck/fixed on voting that way simply because you and your family always
have, that’s your business. I just can’t
imagine why anyone would want to broadcast that after that embarrassingly
shameful McCain/Palin campaign. Personally, I
don’t discuss Obama at work, even after his win and sis doesn’t either. But this
‘good ole boy’ co-worker of hers wasted no time in sarcastically congratulating
my sister on Obama’s win the morning after, as if it was a victory for African
Americans only. Sis is the only African American on her team too. On one of her
conference calls the day after the election, the condescending co-worker says to
my sis, “Congratulations to you on Obama’s win. I’m
happy for you.” My sister simply replies, “No, I’m happy for you. It’s a victory for all of us,
especially you.” (to which the 'good ole boy'
co-worker had no reply) Boy, you
sure said it sister!
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