Yes we can...

I remember when I was 10 years old sitting with my mom on a Saturday afternoon drinking lemonade and listening to Fleetwood Mac. My mother had adopted me and was already in her late 50's but decided to take a strange kid into her home to give him a better chance at life. While we were listening to the music, she turns down the volume and out of the blue asks me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I thought about it for a minute and said several things, an astronaut, a baseball player, a doctor and maybe even President of the United States. She looked at me with the comforting smile and told me I could be anything I wanted to be.

Years later I was home on leave from the Army and was sitting in the living room talking with my mom and we were watching a documentary on civil rights. We had never really talked about the civil rights movement at any length, but started up a conversation about it. What I learned from her that day is that she was involved with the movement and had actually marched on Washington when Martin Luther King gave his famous speech. There was no doubt that I had nothing but love and respect for her, but it grew even more once she told me what she and some friends had gone through during those years. I asked her did she still think a black person could become President...she hesitated for a minute and basically said although she hopes that it would happen, she doesn't see it happening in her lifetime or mine.

My mother passed away several years ago and I wish she was here today to see this historic event. Barack Obama is now President Elect of the United States. The first black person in history to have that distinction. This is truly an historic moment and I can't lie to you....as I type this blog, I have tears in my eyes. Not just tears of pride at this accomplishment, but tears that my mother, who fought through prejudice and was part of the civil rights movement, isn't here to see this with me. I know there are plenty of other people who have similar stories of family members, friends who they wish were here to see this moment.

Watching the coverage and seeing Representative John Lewis, Oprah Winfrey and Reverend Jesse Jackson crying while Obama was giving his speech, said everything to me. I am sure there was a sense of relief in the black community when it was official that Obama won the election, too many times things have been pulled out right from beneath us in the last minute, but not this time. This was our time and by our time, I mean American....everyone. Even though he is a black man, he ran this race strictly as a man, a Democrat and not on race.

I am sure there are McCain supporters and others who are disappointed that Obama won the election, but for just one moment, let that go and realize that you have just witnessed history. We need to come together as a country and let everyone know that we are a united nation and no one will hold us down....this campaign is a testament to that fact.

I think we all will look at ourselves and this country a little differently from now on. This whole situation makes me think of a line from a 2pac song called I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto:

"Although it seems Heaven sent, we ain't ready to have a black President"

Yes we can...