Election Day

I can honestly say that I never ever thought a Black man would make it to the White House. It was just one of those ideas that, in my mind, would always be just that: a great idea; a passing thought; a crazy dream. I voted via absentee ballot but I went with my boss this morning while she cast her ballot. As I stood there, I couldn’t help but tear up (kinda lame, I know) but all those lectures I sat through to get my Black World Studies minor actually came to life. I watched as a Black woman and a Black man stood in booths next to each other and voted. I watched my boss stand in line, feeling like it was about time for a Black man to be in the White House and leaving it at that; I watched a little White boy yell out to his daddy, “Obama”, when the name came on the screen and quickly ask for his Georgia voter sticker when he was done. I’m a Maryland voter so I didn’t ask for a sticker when I left the polls but something stuck with me when I witnessed the Georgia voters. The fact that this is a race that could actually be won by a Black man with a beautiful family and a tale we all can relate to, admire, and aspire to emulate. The passing of his maternal grandmother a day before the election is heartbreaking but is the cherry on top of a beautiful struggle. Nothing in life comes easy and these obstacles thrown into Obama’s path will ONLY make him stronger and more determined. I pray for him because he is a good man who has fought a good fight and I believe in him (in the human sort of way) and what he can do for not only our country and the world, but for the Black community. He is the personification against the concept of Black Existentialism. Your environment doesn’t control who you can become…YOU DO. Please don’t allow your environment to control your voice or your decisions or your future. Go out and vote today.