“Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.” – Lyndon B. Johnson, Former President of the United States of America At 10 p.m. on Nov. 4, the people hit the streets. I could hear it from my window. There was a symphony of cheers and tears. Our small campus erupted with electricity I have never felt before. I sat in my dorm room, while the celebrations carried on down below. I just looked out my window and felt a wave of accomplishment.
America has overcome so much. From Lincoln to Johnson and now to Barack Obama. 150 years of hatred and discrimination seemed to be washed clean from our hands at the moment that Obama was announced as the next president.
Maya Angelou told Henry Smith of CBS, “I am so proud, I am filled. I can hardly talk without weeping … we are growing up!” Yet there are still people who cannot see this as a positive. Still there are people who reject this. About six hours before the announcement was made, I was the target of a Jim Crowe era insult. As I rode my bike on campus, wearing my Barack Obama T-shirt, someone shouted at me, “[negative racial slur].” My head turned so fast to see who it was that I almost crashed into a flower pot, only to be met by a man in a big truck giving me the finger. I never saw a face, only a finger.
It didn’t end there. Immediately after the announcement that history had been made, I was bombarded with Facebook statuses and text messages that felt like a punch in the gut after running a mile.
One said, “Watermelon and Fried Chicken is on the menu for Thanksgiving.” Another claimed that the Statue of Liberty was coming down the next day and in its place, Aunt Jemima.
Then I sat back in my chair and smiled, because those hate-filled people are the minority.
The election proved that the old mindset of race being a divider is a fading trend. The young, old, blacks, whites, yellows, purples and greens all did it.
We ignored race. We ignored ignorance. We rose above it all for the benefit of this country.
Take a minute and realize what has been done. I am proud! Proud of me, proud of you, proud of us as a country; we gave hate the middle finger. Congratulations President-elect Barack Obama! You have a tough four years ahead of you. We have put our trust in you to mend the wounds of our past. Good Luck and God Bless America.