WHEW!!! OBAMA IS THE 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!

I am so excited that I am going out to celebrate. Hopefully, there will be peace & happiness in the air out there. John McCain was very graceful in his speech & he restored himself in my eyes. His supporters, on the other hand, were loud & belligerent! That's why I'm a little fearful to run into one of them tonight. It was so sad to see Sarah Palin get misty-eyed during McCain's concession speech. The change is finally here, America! Barack Obama is the best choice that America has made in a long time! It was great that he congratulated his opponents for their hard efforts & achievements. What a great night in history! My children have two kids in the white house that look like them. How wonderful!

Letter to My Grandma

Dear Grandma,

You came from a whole different era so I know you never saw this one coming. For the first time in history,we may have a black president in the U.S! I know that you are still around,even though you've been gone for 10 years now. Your commanding prescence can still be felt by both your daughter & granddaughter. Grandma,I know you would have been elated by the current events. The scrapbook that you kept of every new milestone in the civil rights struggle is still around. Newspaper clippings of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, & other great civil rights innovators have not withered with age. The testimony of progress in race relations has not faded away into memory. All the fruits of that struggle may finally be reaped by Barack Obama tonight!

I voted Democratic,Grandma!That was a promise that I am glad you made me keep. For that is the party that has elevated a black man to the level where he could run for president.Although the Republican party has made some strides in race relations, it is still not a diverse party. I think you knew that it might be that way for some time. So, I went with the family tradition. Who knew that by voting as a democrat I could help usher in the first black president ever? You just wanted me to vote to make sure that the countless blacks that died for that right did not do so in vain.

You were raised in one of the most racist states in America. In Mississippi, you couldn't roam freely because of segregation. Not only that but you faced the prospect of either you or your loved ones getting lynched by the Ku Klux Klan! That is why you left & came to California. I am certain that it would make you feel overjoyed to learn that racism has lessened to some degree in America. Even in states like Mississippi,things have improved. From the Reconstruction era to the Civil Rights period, blacks have fought to have the same rights as whites. If Barack Obama does win, that may finally become a reality. Hopefully, you are witnessing these events from somewhere in Heaven. If you are, I know that you are happy to see just how far we have come as African-Americans!

This Year, Let's Hope That Florida Isn't The Deciding Factor!

After what happened during the last election, we can't let anyone steal this election again. I'm from the school of thought that believes that is precisely what happened in 2000 & 2004. Now, Florida is in the news again. Apparently, it is the #1 state with voter issues. Here's a brief excerpt from CNN:

"Florida was the scene of a bruising recount that settled the 2000 election, and it is a closely watched battleground state in this year's race between Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain. Both parties are already in court, battling over potential voter challenges Tuesday.A lawsuit that Democrats filed to stop Florida Republicans from using foreclosure lists and mailing lists to challenge potential voters was suspended Monday at the start of a hearing. Democrats told judges that the GOP has agreed not to use those lists. In court papers, the state and national Republican parties dismissed the complaint as a "nonexistent threat." (END OF EXCERPT) The whole article can be found here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/03/voter.hotline/index.html?iref=mpstoryview