Hey guys,
Wow so here we are back at it... I gotta tell you all these last 2 days have been really emotional for me. The changes that have begun to take place here in America, I think, have made all Americans take a deeper look at ourselves and our country. This being the case, I don't know where to start tonight.
I'll start with Barbara Walters. Now I know a lot of you are wondering, "What in the blue hell is he about to say???" Yeah, Barbara Walters and her show, The View, on ABC has got me to thinking.
<side note>As a fan of people expressing themselves and being open to sensible persuasion, I am an avid fan of The View. If you're laughing right now, Shut up! LMAO</side note>
So The View has a segment called Hot Topics, where the panelists talk about the current events. You have to understand there are 5 different women including Barbara Walters, from different backgrounds & walks of life. So it's really interesting when they disagree. Nevertheless, I digress... Barbara made a comment today, in regards to wondering how President-Elect Obama's victory impacted Black men in and around the country. Moreover, how his victory affect our ability to aspire.
Well I can't speak for all men, but I sure the hell can speak for myself. A lot of people who know me know my personality to be that of a progressive person... An independent thinker who has gone through many trials & tribulations and continues steadfast towards achieving any goals I set for myself. Let me step back and give you a bit of background.
I lost my mom at the age of 3, and have a gang of siblings. Combine that with coming up in a lower income neighborhood, and it'll give you some perspective on my life. To add a bit more substance to this picture, I (being the 4th out of 6 kids) was the first one of my siblings to graduate from college. It's not to say the others have not tried or that college is for everyone. It's to say that college was so important to me that I continued to push to make my dream a reality. Alas, not only did I get to go to the culture rich institution that is Howard University, but I completed my degree and was able to achieve a goal that I had not seen others around me attain.
Let's add some more substance to this... Hearing this background could make one think that I had opportunities a lot of other people don't have, and I do agree to some degree. However, let's make no mistake about it. I grew up in the same country where injustices and prejudices occur everyday (on a multitude of levels). While I have not limited my aspirations because of this, I have had to endure through the same situations that many others have had to. Ok so now let's introduce the Obama factor...
I have always aspired and continue to aspire today to reach greater heights. The Obama factor tells me that I'm doing something right. I believe a common theme is to tell people to continue to dream, but being a Black kid and hearing that message at one time meant dream as much as "they" allow you to dream. (I won't go into detail about who "they" are.) And God bless Sherri Shepherd as she cried on ABC's The View when recalling how she told her own son that now we as a people have no limitations thanks to President-Elect Obama...
Let's take a moment to understand what that means. For a long time, people preached the message of being responsible for your own actions and working together as a people to achieve a common goal. For a long time, kids were taught they could be doctors, lawyers, politicians, engineers (and probably still are today)... But as a Black kid, it never "really" seemed possible. That world wasn't the same world I lived in, so it just never seemed like that message was directed to me. Well thanks to the Obama factor, I can remove the words "never really" in the previous sentence because it is so much of a possibility today that there are no excuses... no limitations.
There are probably some reading this thinking, well if anyone set those limitations it would be me doing it to myself. And I say that I disagree. Being a part of a disenfranchised minority in America for so long produces this way of thinking. Not validating its correctness, more so stating the effects of living in this country. Of course, it will take time for the Obama factor to seep in (so I don't expect everything to go away over night) but I think about what's changed between yesterday and today and I know the answer.
For once, I woke up and felt a bit better to be a Black man in America, because the significance of this change has touched everyone in a different way. For me as a Black man, I can't put to words all of the different dimensions in which this has touched my life. But in the words of the original Godfather of Soul, I woke up today ready to grab a megaphone and shout out, "I'M BLACK AND I'M PROUD." God, what a wonderful feeling....
So tonight, I'm not looking for reactions or responses from you guys. I love you all for reading and I hope that from this, you take a moment and think about this idea that we have "no limitations" stopping us from being what we want to be... doing what we want to do... growing in ways that we never imagined because President-Elect Obama has joined the others (and I won't run down the names)who've paved the way to create a bigger, brighter future for the youths behind us. God Bless America!!!
Now some of you may feel the urge to comment, and go right on ahead because I love hearing people's responses.
Until next time,
-C.
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