As the electoral votes swarmed in and the will of the people was expressed throughout the country, a dream came to reality. The dreams of slaves working on plantations singing spirituals of better days to come. The dreams of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, aspiring for a day when Black Citizens could hold their heads up high and walk alongside their white brethren. The dreams of young black Americans across the country ever wondering if America was really the land of the free and the home of the brave. The land of opportunity and the land of equality. A land where one’s dignity, not race, character, not ethnicity decides his or her potential success. This day has come. This dream has been realized.
The glass ceiling shattered with 64 million voices pleading for change. Ready for a new path. Anticipating the beginning of a new era. Millions upon millions of people across the world occupied the streets. Singing and dancing. Praising and praying. Filled with laughter and tears, groups of Americans once thought of as enemies became friends. Adversaries became allies. The strong grip of fear vanished from the eyes of White Americans and Black Americans alike, and was replaced with hope. A hope to look past the color of skin and into the dexterity of ones heart. A hope to look past the ethnicity of our fellow citizens and into the intentions of ones soul. The audacity to hope for a better tomorrow came with the reward of indeed seeing a brighter future.
The tears streaming down the faces of notable Black figures such as Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey represented the tears of every African American who thought this day would never come. These tears however were not just tears of happiness but tears of relief. Relief from the fear that America was not yet ready to let go of its bigoted past. Not yet ready to see Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream come to fruition. Not yet ready to finally live up to its creed of liberty and equality for all. Instead, Black Fathers and Mothers can now look at their children and truly mean it when they say “you can be whatever you want to be.” The No Blacks allowed sign had finally been cast away and with it left the pain and struggle of Black Americans. With it left the constant pain of government not representing your needs and your wants. With it left the struggle to picture an African American finally embracing the full rights of everything this country has to offer. This day will go down in history as not only the day the First African American was elected, but the day hope prevailed.
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing – Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.”
-President Barack Obama
...Imeabasi...
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