What Barack's Win Means to Me

This was originally posted on MySpace.

November 5, 2008
What Barack’s Win Means to Me

I had the day off but I was anxious all day long. I woke up watching the news and went to bed with the news watching me. I voted around 10am and basically waited around all day long. I probably really started focusing when they began tallying and giving projected outcomes for different states. It became very apparent that the Northeastern seaboard was unanimously voting for Barack. But then, I saw that Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Iowa, who had been previous Republican-voting states had flipped over to voting Democrat. But, there was a period of about 20-30 minutes where McCain's electoral votes were going up and Barack's weren't. But then came 11:00 and California, Oregon and Washington's polls closed and they began flashing on the screen. Well, dammit…they were flashing blue and within like 3 seconds, I saw Barack's electoral votes jump from 207 to 333. I immediately got it! He only needed 270 votes to win! I lost my damn mind…so much to the point where my dog started barking and got a little aggressive (he ended up having to go home for that). All I kept thinking was, "Oh My God…We have a Black President!"

I'm pretty damn proud. I paid attention to the campaigns and process. I donated money. I convinced friends to vote for him. I convinced family members to vote for him. I encouraged others to just get out and exercise their right to vote. Most of all, I exercised my own right to vote. I voted for our first elected Black president! I am a part of history.

When you're little, you're parents say, "Honey, you can be whatever you want to be." In the back of their minds, it was rhetoric and if you dreamed too much, they'd snap you right back into reality. Mainly because it wasn't true—you couldn't be whatever you wanted to be. To this day, in some sectors, I would only make 70% of what a man would make doing my same job. There still has never been a female, Native American, Asian, Latino president. Think back to when you were like 10 years old. If you're friend told you, "I want to be the president of the United States," you'd clown him! He'd be looked at as the geeky kid and if he dressed the part, you'd be callin' him an oreo, cracker, uppity negro, etc. Let's keep it real. So, to some degree, it still hasn't been proven correct that we can be WHATEVER we want to be. But you know what, with Barack winning, we're getting closer and I can't wait to see what happens in the next 25 years of my life...

Barack won because more people came out to vote than ever before. Had only the same people from the past two elections voted Barack would have lost. But, more young people voted, more Blacks voted and more Latinos voted. The outcome? Our voice gets heard and we influence the electoral votes that can either be given or taken away. A lot of people believed that because of the electoral vote, the popular vote was bogus and that the voting system is flawed. It actually works. But it only reflects the votes that have been casted. So, if you don't vote, you're voice will not be reflected in the electorate. I think in the past, we've been hearing, "Vote or Die" and we did go out to vote in the last two elections to no avail. Well, last night proved that when we vote, our voice is really heard. Hopefully this inspires people to keep on voting.

I am truly inspired by Barack. That being said, I won't blindly follow what he says just because I am inspired by him. But if he says something that makes sense to me then please believe I'll do it.

God has his own plans and laughs at ours. But dammit if I wasn't hoping that Barack's grandmother could vote for her grandson and just hang on until around 1am last night. I guess she is watching everything from Heaven. I really feel for him and I think it was apparent during his speech that he was trying to celebrate his win, yet he was mourning the loss of his grandma.

This goes to show that grassroots movements can work. Perhaps they don't pay well. But the fulfillment you get is well worth the pay cut. If you believe in something, go for it whole-heartedly and you never know what kind of journey on which you may embark. Furthermore, grassroots efforts need foot soldiers. I'm proud to say that Barack's foot soldiers were primarily my contemporaries who have been believed to be completely apathetic. It's not that we're apathetic, it's that nothing has moved us enough before. We didn't trust anyone or anything and didn't believe that what we thought mattered. Well..we do care.

I hope this changes the strategies and tactics used during political campaigns. Barack proved that you can carry yourself in a dignified manner, promote your policies and still walk away with your integrity, win or lose. Personally, I don't care to hear you bash another's character. Let me make that decision for myself. Talk about policy, let me see your voting record and make my own decisions. To mudsling is to take the low road. Convince me of why I should vote for you, not why I shouldn't vote for the other guy. If you can't do that, perhaps you shouldn't be running.

Hopefully this stimulates a positive change in race relations because white and blacks and everyone in between view the country from very different perspectives. White people think everything is great...the sky is the limit. Black people think…why even try, White people are going to find a way to mess it up for us. Neither understands the other. One thinks the other is lying and the other thinks the other is knowingly oppressive. We need to get to a point where we can acknowledge this and move forward.