HISTORY
Hope Delivered: Black Americans Joyous, Proud, Fearful
TEARS UNCONTROLLABLY ROLL DOWN MY FACE as I think of the Americans who fought and gave their lives just to gain the right to vote. I am basking in the glory and celebration that is this monumental day.
Never in a million years did any of those individuals dream of a black man in the White House. They just wanted -- at the very least -- the chance to choose the white man that would end up there.
I was overcome with emotion when I saw Sasha and Malia playing on stage with Joe Biden’s daughters --Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream materialized in those little girls. Black people just generations from slavery are alive to see a black president. For the first time in my life, I have faith in this country.
At 10:01 I heard the words “Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States of America.” I cried. I took pictures, hell I may just write a letter to my unborn children.
But although we voted for change, we still need to work toward it. There are so many strides to make. I would love to believe that black people can now change the words from “we shall overcome” to “we HAVE overcome.”
Unfortunately, we have not. I am so proud to be alive to see this day of change, to witness where this country has come. But I look forward to the progress to come. The next four years may be harder than the last 21 months. But I’m strapping my seatbelt and getting ready for the ride.
Throughout the last couple months I’ve always been that black person that has tried to look past the color of Barack Obama’s skin. Sure I loved him because he’s black. But I loved him even more because he was the right man for the job. Regardless of his ethnicity, I always felt like Obama was the better candidate—and I wanted every white person I talked to to know that.
But as Election Day came closer and closer I realized how much this election really was about race. My email was constantly being stuffed with chain mail begging black people to maintain appropriate etiquette on November 5th if Obama actually won. Although I chuckled at so many of the emails advising us not to bring chicken and watermelon to work, or give each other high fives on the street, or (worst case scenario) not show up to work at all, the humor was veiling the more important issue.
Now that Barack Obama has become the 44th president all eyes will be on black people. And while it is a huge victory, I fear that others will expect us to shut up. “You got the damn president, what else do you people want?”
Americans may forget that there’s still A LOT of work that needs to be done -- this became even more evident to me as I skimmed the facebook statuses of dear friends who happened to support McCain.
Danielle Cadet is a Danielle is a journalism student Northwestern University who likes to write about fashion and popular culture catastrophes.
Posted November 5, 2008
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