A New Dawn for America

Few days color America’s storied history more eloquently and beautifully than Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, the day Barack Obama took the oath as President of these United States.
Few milestones measure the magnitude and the reach of America’s potential as was signified by electing our first-ever Black African American to the highest office of the most powerful nation on Earth.
But we did it. It actually happened. Hope truly springs eternal.

No matter where you really were, no matter your place or your stature, there was a sense of elevation everywhere we looked, most especially in the eyes of ordinary people, working-class people, real people. The only other recent moment with such electricity was the election night, itself, last November when it became clear that history was being written in a bold, new fashion.

Across the land and around the globe, there seemed to be, at least for the time being, a truly reinvigorated notion of what it means to be American. The things before, made up only of dreams, bore fruit, became real, manifested in mandate of the people more poetically and more poignantly than any political machine could contrive—this was real and it was of the people.

On the heels of Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrated Monday, Tuesday’s inauguration held even more significance than would have ordinarily been the case. Our guess is that millions upon millions of
people extended the holiday all the way through Tuesday and quite frankly for the right reasons—history was unfolding in ways heretofore only imagined in the minds of a small minority, quite literally.

But it was not entirely and only a victory for Blacks in America, not at all. Although it was monumental in that regard. Additionally, it was a victory for all Americans, most particularly Whites in America, in that it was a freeing unlike ever before of their own historical bondages. A moment of transcendance. One that was badly needed.

In this hellish quagmire facing far too many peoples of the planet today, it is refreshing and spiritually invigorating to experience new leadership, new charisma, new vision, however founded on age-old principles and morals. In that regard, Barack Obama delivered. Well, actually, the American people delivered.

Here at home, some little big things unfolded. One of them was the appearance of college students downtown shoveling snow out of crosswalks so folks in wheelchairs had some basic mobility. Those students were heeding a call to action by then President-elect Obama. The spirit of giving, of neighborhood, of intertwining our lives with each other’s, got new life as this new leader took a very sacred oath to lead us as a people.

The image of a Black family—with two little daughters and even a mother-in-law—occupying the White House is a picture worth millions of words. It is absolutely historic and it gives utter testimony to what it means, especially today, to be a citizen of the United States of America.

We done good and we can be very proud of it. We can collectively exhale a big sigh of relief, and we can collectively breathe in the new sense of self as we approach the many serious challenges we face.
Little doubt about it, though. We have a gifted, caring, brilliant leader in President Barack Obama. And that is exciting beyond words.

Congratulations, America, for doing what many thought would never be done. One of the biggest battles for human rights ever won, and not a single drop of blood shed in the process.

Now, for the record, THAT is a revolution in the truest sense of the word.