The Dems are Back in the Building Baby!



Words can't express how I felt last night when I saw the momentum swing so strong in favor of Obama and that emotion has spilled over into today and will for some time. Broad Street around City Hall here in Philly was on fire last night! There were thousands of people out celebrating and cheering the election outcome that none of us suspected would be the case even 2 years ago. America has elected its first Black President. I get the whole point some make that he ran for the presidency as a man who happens to be Black, but no one can remove his Blackness from the significance of this race. Indeed his race was an issue in this election and Obama overcame amazing odds in states that haven't voted Democratic in years! How the hell does that happen for one and that a Black man wins states where you can damn near count the number of Blacks per capita on your hands and toes!

I barely have a voice this morning because I was pretty much yelling for 2 hours on the streets "The Dems are back in the building baby! Racism isn't over, but it's been dealt a powerful blow!" That's the phrase I'm coining, because I feel it captures, in a small phrase, the essence of what has occurred. I was also yelling out a line from the Jeffersons theme song "We're movin' on up (baby!)" while I was doing the George Jefferson swagger.

Whether Obama won because people were fed up with 8 years of Republican mismanagement, or because they were more ageist than racist, or because they wanted to vote for a Black man just because they could is irrelevant at this point, because Obama is in the building baby! I think all of those things (and more) played a part, but the fact that enough American's overcame their racism to elect Obama is an amazing occurance. I just watched an interview with Maya Angelou on CBS and she said "America has grown up" and indeed it has. She (America) has made another step to transgressing the race issues that have plagued our country for years, yet I am keenly aware that racism isn't over, but it's been dealt a powerful blow!

The electing of Obama will send a strong message to our young people, especially those that have been disempowered by racism and other oppressions that maybe, just maybe I can become soemthing greater than I thought. We can't stop at voting for Obama, but we also need to be part of changing the direction of this country in a way that has never been seen before. If Obama could bring millions of new voters into this election, and have the largest voter turnout since 1908 (according to a CBS reporter), I hope that at least half of those will give in ways they may have never done so before to help America be a better place than it has been in the last 8 years (or in its history). I know 100% and unequivocally, I will be part of that movement.

I so badly wish that Malcolm, Martin and the countless others who sacrificed their lives to advance civil rights in this country could see this day they worked so hard to make happen. It was powerful to see the tears in Jesse Jackson's eyes last night. In spite of his disparaging comments about Obama's leadership a few months ago, the reality is that his civil rights work AND his run for the presidency in the 80's has helped Obama be where he is today. We cannot discount the contributions of the past for the mistakes of the present.

I even include 2pac as someone who I wish could see this day. Though his song playlist is full of contradiction (ex: Brenda's Got a Baby vs. Wonda Why They Call You Bitch), I still feel he had a level of profundity to his socially concsious songs that remains unparalleled. I will never forget the hook of one of his songs "Even though it seems heaven sent, we aint ready to see a Black president" ( a hook that Nas has in one of the songs on his current album as well) That day has come 'Pac baby! So maybe he's up there sippin' on a little Alize' or Thug Passion in celebration.

I know this post is a bit incoherernt, and all over the place, but given my current state of elation/emotion, concentration isn't something I possess at the moment. America is FOREVER changed and for the better. This revolution was televised!