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Bearing witness to history- President Barack Obama

It’s a beautiful day indeed! Share your stories. Where were you at the moment you heard? How have you celebrated? What are your elders saying about this day? What are your children saying about this day? I need to hurry up and request inauguration day off work.

10 Responses to "Bearing witness to history- President Barack Obama"

BlackWomenBlowTheTrumpet says:

November 4, 2008 at 11:21 pm

Hey there!

Ladies and gents….

We have elected a Kenyan-American president….Toot’s grandson:

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
44th President of the United States

And we’re movin’ on up!!
Kelly says:

November 4, 2008 at 11:30 pm

I would like to say that I am pretty frustrated that everyone thinks that Obama has been elected when only 56% of the nationwide have been submitted. How does that make him president? Just because of the electoral votes? That’s not possible because a lot of those states are not completed submitting their precincts. He is not president until we are absolutely sure. Especially since many states are close to the 50/50 mark. Which means it can swing either way before it is done. How funny it would be if the remaining precincts report differently and the electoral votes change!!!!!

Remember he is AMERICAN – I am not called an Italian-Pollack American. I am American only!!!
affrodite says:

November 4, 2008 at 11:41 pm

@Kelly- I see you have launched your own campaign. Honey, take off your rose colored glasses because race has, is and will long be a part of how we look at things in America. Please, I invite you to read this very blog. I invite you into my life where I am daily reminded that I am different in the workplace, on the street, on the internet. How dare you minimize such a major part of our nation’s history. Blacks are a minority, and for a minority to soar through the glass ceiling and be crowned one of the most prestigious honors that this country can has gives me and others the right to further define ourselves as Black, African American, People of Color, etc.

Do not take away from the additional triumph behind this moment in history.
Kelly says:

November 4, 2008 at 11:50 pm

That is not to say he isn’t an American. He is!!!! So am I!!!! But you don’t call me an Italian-Pollack American. Why would you call yourself and African American or a Kenyan-American? My family fought for this country as well as handed the life of poverty. But I don’t set myself apart. And Honey, I am a minority. I am female in a man’s business world. And had to fight for everything I wanted and received. So I understand what it is like to be different.

But I am talking about the presidency. Not race. Call our new potential PRESIDENT of the United States of America, an AMERICAN. That is what he is and will always be!!!!!!!!!!

BTW – I voted for him. So I can say, in the FREE country that I live in, what I think and feel about the new Potential President of the US.
affrodite says:

November 5, 2008 at 12:02 am

@Kelly- you’re right. you can say whatever you want, and i welcome your viewpoint. glad you voted for him, but you offering me that is like telling me that your best friend is black. that does not give your viewpoint instant credibility to me.

i get your point, but i feel it is important to make that distinction in his title at the moment for the hundreds of thousands of african americans and africans from the diaspora who fought battles, were raped, killed, beaten, sold, torn from their families, stripped of their culture, their language, their ability to learn in years past to this very day. i say first black president with pride right now in honor of the things i just mentioned.

i’m signing off to listen to barack’s acceptance speech. you should listen, too.
affrodite says:

November 5, 2008 at 9:16 am

@Kelly- for your own benefit, i think you should google the electoral college/vote and read about how electoral votes work as well. if you know about it, then i apologize, no disrespect. hopefully some others will post as well to round out their perspectives.
Toya says:

November 5, 2008 at 10:57 am

When Barack Obama was declared President, I was seated on my bed, next to my husband, having a conference call with some of the most important women in my life – my aunts. We screamed, cried, sobbed … it was a momentous thing. I could feel the shift. I am thanking God today.

When I told my five-year-old this morning, she pressed her forehead against mine, looked in my eyes and said, “Yay, Mama. Yay, America.” I share her reaction: Yay, America.

And Kelly – good on you for voting for him. This is your victory, too. But you are an American, as are we, and you know what this means. You know how long we have waited. Give us our moment, honey. That doesn’t mean that yours is diminished.
SolidMastery says:

November 5, 2008 at 12:28 pm

Hey,

First I want to say…I love the black and white picture of Barack. It is just soo moving to me.

I woke up at around 9 from my slumber, alone in my SRO on the east side of Cambridge. His victory was very personal for me. It all made sense. A man of color, I’m a man of color. He got his act together in college to become a living legend. For sometime he lived a life of a monk in an apartment, pouring over books books and more books. He did the work. He made his bones as a politician in cut throat Illinois (Chicago). He was calm during his presidential bid: unflappable. He is absolutely brilliant. He is a master wordsmith.

I want to be Barack when I grow up.
Awesome.

I felt extremely hearten going to the gym [2] this morning.

Also, on Thom[3] a gentleman caller from the U.K. (by way of the Congo) expressed his sentiments of being proud of America for making a good choice; I think the world holds that same opinion.

Now I shall drink my victory gin and strangle a Prole[4].

——-
[1] Food: Sunflower Seeds; Voho Mints
[2] Exercise: Chest (A)
[3] Audio: Thom Hartman Show Air America
[4] from Patten Oswall’s comedy routine.
Haily says:

December 14, 2008 at 11:20 pm

Amazing day indeed. But I share Kelly’s point of view with the issue of race. I don’t think it should be as big of an issue at all. My parents moved into the U.S. when I was a baby from the Dominican Republic. I have not ever identified myself as Hispanic-American. I am, simply, as we all are, even my parents, American. That’s the beauty of our country. Yes, race had a huge role n our nation’s history, but times are changing and we’re moving forward. Remember that when slaves were emancipated, conservatives were skeptical and, yes, fearful. At that time, no other nation had such diversity which, compared to today, was little.
Andrew Yu-Jen Wang says:

March 5, 2009 at 8:34 pm

Speaking of Barack Obama:

Barack Obama is a racial-minority individual, and in his heart and mind he inevitably does not endorse hate crimes committed by George W. Bush.

George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog).

George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes.

And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention.

Many people know what Bush did.

And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world.

Bush was absolute evil.

Bush is now like a fugitive from justice.

Bush is a psychological prisoner.

Bush has a lot to worry about.

Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time.

In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.

Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993

“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
______________________
I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it is a linguistically excellent statement, and it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think the quotation came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.

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