30somethingandsearching

Last night as I watched the 2008 Election coverage, I kept my fingers crossed and prayed for the results this country needs.

At about 10:00 pm local coverage was giving an update. When NBC went back to national coverage, I was greeted with the image of Obama and the words “Obama elected the 44th President of the United States.”

Honestly, I was confused. It was so early that I didn’t understand what I was looking at. I think like most people, I expected it to go late into the evening before we knew who won.

When it hit me and then they showed footage of people cheering and screaming in celebration, I was overcome with emotion.

And relief.

I felt a great sense of relief wash over me. I know a lot of you voted for McCain and do not like Obama. I can understand that because that is how I felt about McCain and Bush the last 2 elections. My fear of McCain being elected was for the economy and Palin. She frightens me.

That’s not the point, though. The point is that today, I feel hope. I feel that we are finally going to be heading in a good direction. I feel that finally the world will look at us and see the country we once were, not the country we have appeared to be under the current administration.

I also feel the great joy and emotion of those who cried last night. Those who shed tears of happiness for the reason I stated above regarding our country, but also those who shed tears because they thought this day would never come.

I am an optimistic person, but I had doubts that a black man, even one who is only so on one half, would ever become President in my life and I am only 32. I knew it would happen before a woman would get there, but that is par for the course in this nation.

I am a white girl from Chicago, so I know I do not feel the same way that the Black communities feel. But I do understand it.

I grew up not knowing or understanding that we were different. I grew up not comprehending hate or racism. I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around how anyone could harbor hate like that against anyone, let alone a person they don’t know.

When I was about 9, I was on my grandparents’ farm in Kentucky. We had just been learning about slavery in school and the KKK. (My first 2 initials are K, so it has been a long-running joke that I will never marry a man with a last name starting with a K, or I’d just have to keep my maiden name.) I was walking around the hundreds of acres helping my Papa and talking about slavery and the KKK.

My grandpa’s people were Irish, German and Native American. They did not own slaves; they did the work themselves on a small family farm. He said he thought it was a terrible thing to treat people like that.

When I said to him, did you know that there was a group called the KKK and they did things like burn houses and beat or hang people just because they were black, he said “shhhh.”

I was confused, I thought it was a bad thing and you should always speak up against something you know is bad. He said it was a bad thing, but voices carry in the country. I said, “so?”

He said, “Kelly, we know it’s wrong, but not everyone around here knows that. There are people around here that still participate in that behavior and if they here you talk bad about them, they might retaliate.”

I was horrified and that moment has stuck in my mind ever since. We were in a very Christian, god-fearing part of southern Kentucky. I thought that if you believed in God and the scriptures, then you were to love thy neighbor and treat others as you wished to be treated.

I did not understand, and still do not, that people were still considered less than human because they had a different skin color.

I had a fascination with literature and history surrounding slavery and Black history. I had a teacher who was smart enough to teach us that the history books eliminated the sections that would have taught about the accomplishments of Black American: Inventors, writers, abolitionists, etc.

I began reading things like Uncle Tom’s Cabin at 13. Some of my favorite books are still those written during or about slavery and black history.

In college, I took a Black History course taught by a wonderful man named Willie Dixon. He worked at the Dusable Museum and appeared on a radio show in Chicago. I loved his class and I really think everyone should take that class. I think it would bridge many gaps and create a level of understanding that currently is lurking as distrust (by both black and white America).

I thought of him last night. I wondered if he was still with us and how he must have felt. He was there with Dr. King and Malcolm X. He lived the Civil Rights Movement. He taught the history from the slave ships to the present and I know he would be overwhelmed to be able to teach about the first Black President.

I also thought about Zeb Barnes. I man I worked with/for for 5 years. (He was the Vice-President but also worked in the field.) Zeb was from Alabama and came up here to Chicago when he was 13 around 1950. I adored this man. Everyday, he would come by my desk and say, “Hey, Trouble. How’s it going?”

He would then begin a story about his time in Alabama or in Chicago. He always had a riveting story and I told him he should write a book or two because it was fascinating stuff. I thought about him and his best friend last night. The two of them would always be dressed to the nines with hat to boot. They had so much history in just those 2 men. I know they never thought this day would come.

When Barack Obama took the stage with his wife and children last night, this might sound strange, but my thought was Bill Cosby.

For many of us, The Cosby Show was the first real look into the lives and families of Black America. I grew up on that show and on Bill Cosby, who I believe is not only one of the greatest comic minds, but also one of the greatest Americans we’ve ever known. I thought about him last night and wondered what he was going to be thinking or saying. I could imagine his pride and that wonderful grin.

As President Elect Obama began speaking, I thought this man is a culmination of JFK and Dr. King. He is that stature and greatness of President Kennedy. The ability to inspire hope and bring about change. He has the peace and intellect of Dr. King. The speaking ability and power to raise people up into action.

I have often wondered what Dr. King would think of the world since his murder. The first time I heard his speech was on The Cosby Show. I remember feeling chills and moved. After that, I began reading more about him and his speeches, including his Letter From Birmingham Jail.

He was Greatness. That was a man with a destiny, a vision and a spirit touched by God.

Last night they showed many people crying, including Jesse Jackson. Now, I don’t particularly care for him, though he was always nice when I spoke to him over the phone at my old job, but I felt his emotion last night. A man that was with Dr. King and has continued to the best of his ability to keep that dream alive was finally witnessing the fruits of their labor. I imagined him thinking, “we did it, we finally did it.”

This change is not just for the good of our nation, but also for the good of our people. I don’t normally watch The View, but I happened to catch it this morning for about 10 minutes. Whoopi said after speaking to her mother that for the first time, she felt she could put her suitcase down. Sheri Sheppard was overcome with emotion at the thought of being able to tell her son that he can do anything, include become President.

There are several generations in this country that are being changed by this. There are elderly who had parents that were slaves. There are those who came up during the Civil Rights Movement who lived through Segregation and Jim Crow Laws.  There are those that came up with the “equality,” but were denied jobs because of race. Those that came up understanding that they had to work twice as hard to get half as far. There are those that are coming up now in violence and apathy because they feel forgotten or that no one cares. Those that feel that they can’t achieve much because of where they are from and the color of their skin.

The President Elect is more than hope for a nation, he is hope for a people. This is a Great day in America. It feels like New Years Eve 1999. We knew something great was to come, but we weren’t sure what. We were exhilarated and hopeful for the change that came with the new millennium. Here were are in 2008 and we are blessed with that feeling once again.

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