Erika on Obama

My friend Erika wrote this really nice little story about her election night experience:

Not a single person I've spoken to since yesterday has been anything but joyous at our new state of affairs. Barrack is president. Everyone says that they didn't think it would ever happen and neither did I. But I can't even imagine what it would be like to be an older person today. Particularly an elder who has fought for social justice his/her whole lives. Particularly an elder person of color who has lived through times in history when segregation existed. How do you wake up one morning and have a black president? How does that happen?

Last night I was at a party with Aileen, my girlfriend, and a bunch of other peers whom I met through my Grad program. It just so happened that this party was in Harlem. I'm not sure that the significance of place was apparent to me before the election was called for Obama on CNN. But when it was called, after sobbing and screaming, we all hit the street. And I mean we all hit it. Yelling and screaming and crying and whooping. We had life sized Obama and Biden cardboard cutouts that we brought out – and the host and a young neighbor guy ran down the streets holding them up. People were crying and yelling with joy, cabs honked profusely, young guys jogged and high-fived everyone and took pictures with the life-sized Obama cutout, and everyone, everyone you passed in the street simply said "Obama" as a greeting and nodded. People waved a HUGE American flag outside and it didn't feel falsely patriotic or conservative. It felt good. Not because all of the sudden things have changed. But because all of the sudden it feels good to be a part of that collective called this country. The collective that elected Barack. WE did this.

Anyway, every time I think about last night and this day, I think about how this the first day in a long time, and the first time in my lifetime, that this country transcended itself to be better than we thought we were. And even though I know lots of beautiful and powerfully good people personally, this is the first time I ever thought perhaps they/we are the majority.

If Obama can be president, we can completely overhaul education. If Obama can be president, we can stop war. If Obama can be president, real universal health care seems simple. Antiracism through activism and queer rights seem possible. Not that they are givens, but they are possible.

so happy. so happy. and we will keep working.