On election night shortly after 11:00 P.M. my phone started to ring, some of my friends we’re actually crying once the election was called for Barak Obama. “We did it man” as one 40 year old male who in between sobs recounted what it meant to his children and his wife who for the first time in her life had become active in a political campaign.
Formerly an active member of the republican party, “I can’t stand them anymore, I’m done” he hissed as he recounted the fierce battle waged by republicans that made it difficult even for a black republican like me to support the McCain-Palin ticket.
The Palin selection was Affirmative Action at its worst choosing someone because of gender and it didn’t matter if she was not qualified. Again it was the old Jedi mind trick played by the McCain people, “he hangs with terrorists…he’s a socialist….we’re all going to hell in a hand basket if he wins”.
At my gym on November 5th several people even gave me fist bumps as they recounted the long campaign and the twists and turns this election cycle took.
For some reason the election of Obama makes me proud to be an American and to hell with those who’ll say, ” I’ve never questioned my country” the genesis of the Country First slogan. If you don’t go along with McCain Palin you just aren’t as Sean Hannity would say, “A great American”.
As a student at Bishop Ludden High School I choose for a while not to pledge allegiance to the flag, I stood in respect. What I saw growing up in the decimated 15th Ward didn’t prepare me for the full embrace of citizenry. I was scooped up and sent across town to a neighborhood I had never been to. But I grew out of that displacement that happens to many African Americans native to Syracuse who were promised better schools, housing and opportunities once the interstate came through.
Today none of that matters. I only wish my father and other relatives were here to share in this historic event that promises to change our country forever. On the day after Election Day every African American stood a little taller and as we gave each other fist bumps because we knew that now, everything changes
But today I’m looking for an American Flag for my house. On January 20th I’ll put it right up front for everyone to see, just like my sign for the first black president Barak Obama.
