Posted on Tuesday, 20th January 2009 by Maritzia
May all the Gods and Goddesses bless President Obama and his administration.
I was at work this morning, so I was only able to watch his speech via streaming video. We tried about 5 different websites before we finally found CBS responding. Everyone else was overloaded, so I missed the swearing in.
Every time the camera switched to cover the crowd, new tears came to my eyes. There were so many African-Americans there. I’ve never seen so many people of color at an inaugoration before. Old, young, middle-aged. And I thought about all of the people I grew up with in the Army. About Popsy and Mrs. Harris, who are like second parents to me now that mine are gone. I thought about Little Eddie, who graduated from Virginia Tech last year, the first person in his whole extended family to graduate from college. I thought about Mrs. McPeters, my first grade teacher, who would never have been allowed to teach a little white girl if we weren’t in a military school.
I thought about all the African-Americans I’ve known, worked with, and loved over my 47 years, and I know that what I was feeling was nothing…NOTHING…compared to what they must be feeling today. This was a day I never thought I could possible happen in my lifetime. And yet here it is.
Today we have our first African-American President of the United States. And it fills my heart with pride that my country elected this man by a wide margin, despite ever-present, systemic racism. And I have hope, for the first time in my life since I first understood what racism was, that we may eventually see an America free of racism. Maybe not in my lifetime, maybe, but eventually.
Posted in Activism, Political | Comments (0)
