Things Done Changed (Word to B.I.G.)

I woke up today and I turned on the TV to make sure I wasn't dreaming at 4am this morning when I finally went to sleep.

I can't even start to put a cap on the amount of excitement I have for the fact that Obama is the next president of the United States. People all across the world celebrated Obama and proves that this country lives by its word, and the American Dream is obtainable by anyone regardless of race. Because, people like Malcolm, Martin, and Medgar Evars (who died after coming home from helping people register to vote) fought for this day.

To be just 40 years removed from the civil rights movement and to have a man of color become president is unprecedented. Malcolm fought for equality in his own brand, and he wasn't killed by whites, he was killed by his very own people, who, like many today, were afraid of change and cynical of the ideas that Malcolm could bring forth.

In essence, (and in the words of Ghost), "a bunch of shark biters was crampin' his style."

I look at the TV eyes filled with tears and say I will never be inspired like this again.

This election is to me the chance to reverse the travesty of a Presidency that never should have been. We have won the popular vote in four of the five last elections, and will now win a real majority, not a plurality. This country should never have been taken as far right as Dick Cheney and George Bush took it, to an extreme representing a fringe of committed ideologues. We will not be denied by butterfly ballots, by hanging chads, and yes, the endless stories around the theme of voter suppression are often overstated but that say in one voice, "Never Again." I have tithed to Obama to say that, in part, and admire so much my many friends who have canvassed ardently for going out and winning this election to say that. I admire you more than I can say.

This election is the moment for my generation to take the world of power from those who have abused it before us. For a judgment that does not prize fight for its own sake but is tough, that is progressive but clear-eyed, that listens but is not afraid to call itself progressive or liberal. We'll make health care more widely available. Call us socialists. We'll force cars to 45 mpg. Call us green kooks. We'll rein in gross excesses in the market. Call us socialists again, (you like that one). But as you do, call us the majority party. We have shed our glass jaw of Dukakis' campaign passivity. And we are that majority. Finally.

Most importantly to me, this election means Dr. King's wish is fulfilled. The little black girls and white girls aren't just playing together. Americans are voting for people who aren't like them, in massive numbers, thirty six million votes for a woman and a black man for President, and now a black man again, twice that many votes. The insular America of past years is dead...grown over...moved past. This election for me was in a way a very simple act of inclusion and antiracism. It was a touch to an idealistic young person who is as dead as the era he grew up in. Or maybe not. As long as I live, there will never be anything as good and true to me in public life, as what we've accomplished today.

And it's only the beginning.

The day has come to start turning the pages and saying that those who preach hate and those who live based on hate have no place in this country.

And now I remember this:

"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!" - MLK Jr.

Fire it up.

FTW