Something I am Thankful for
It is easy to forget just what it is America has accomplished.
Finally: Mission Accomplished America!
My most humble gratitude for the outcome of this election was too much for words.
Iowa, America owes you a debt of gratitude which we may never be able to repay. Shirley Chisholm, Lenora Fulani, Carol Moseley Braun, Alan Keys, Al (Alfred ) Sharpton, and most seriously prior to this election Jesse Jackson have all given courageous efforts in gaining respect for black politicians even considering running for the highest office in the land. I am a 54 year old black who I thought, optimistically believed that it would happen in my children’s lifetime as they are in their twenties. I can now admit, didn’t expect it in mine. Had not President-elect Barack Obama won that contest all those many months ago, we may not have experience the most unique thing to take place in modern times. The white majority’s acceptance of a black man as a legitimate representative of this country’s interest. That statement in and of itself is so phenomenal as to cause me to be unable to breathe when he walked out on that stage at Grants Park in Chicago Tuesday night. Crying was elementary, my dear fellow Americans. I could not breathe; we have in one fell swoop finally accomplished the mission started by this experiment called the United States of America so long ago.
My most humble gratitude to the great Americans of what should be the most proud state of Iowa. They gave the blacks of America the faith in Barack Obama he needed to take him seriously. I believe most of us thought he was testing the waters to gauge a run sometime down the road. We were just watching to see how the general population would react to him during this practice run, expecting a third or fourth place respectable finish in several major contest along the way. When he won coming out the gate in a state with such a known low minority population on hand, we stopped and said; hey, maybe we got something real this time. This man beat the Clintons, a well oiled political machine in its own right. He beat them there and he beat them again, and again, and without the old black guard. He stood up to everything they had to throw at him and won. He did it with class and sophistication often not associated with black men. Never did he endeavor to stray far from message or purpose. He displayed the discipline of a tactical military general with years of political wars at his back while being labeled a novice by all who watched. Astoundingly he bested the Democrats known suspects to include one of the most feared and powerful political machines to have operated in the last twenty years or so. Then after taking on the Clintons, he withstood the anticipated onslaught of the Republican operation lead by an unusually inept Senator John Sidney McCain.
But, importantly to me, I have to digress back to my previous position of gratitude. I must repeat my most humble gratitude to all white Americans across the beautiful land of ours, not just because of Iowa, but a major percentage of you backed it up in the voting booth. I know no matter what your position or how you feel about us in general, this was a major leap of faith for many of you. I know, as this has been such a profound experience for all of us, many relationships will not be the same because of this campaign season. Many of us discovered things about ourselves and others around us that forever changed the way we see them and each other this time around. There will be irreconcilable differences having an impact on many friendships and associations like never before, and it is all great for America because we need it. So, back to my gratitude; thanks again Iowa, to Chicago for its contribution, likewise Illinois. Thanks to Michelle for letting Barack go for it like he wanted to, thanks girls for sacrificing time with your daddy for the country. Thanks folks for getting past his blackness and any misperceptions you may have had about us. Thanks to backing up the primary wins by getting out and going to the booths and doing what should be proudly considered you patriotic duty. I hope that was the essence of the price you paid for that precious vote you gave him, and in doing so, us. If no other black person says this to you ever, let me say most profoundly from the bottom of my proudly American heart, thank you so very much for making me believe in this great country of ours again. Thank you for making this truly about we the people seeking to make this a more perfect union. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you……
© 2009, agentleman.
