Barack Obama's Election Brings Us Into Dawn's Early Light
A moment hundreds of years in the making, brought about by millions of engaged citizens
It was 11:30 p.m. the Friday before the presidential elections. Nikita Dawson had persevered in line for hours, vacillating between light banter with other waiting voters and serious talk about why they had to hang in there until they reached the voting machine.
Finally, Nikita marched up to a voting booth at that Clayton County, Ga., precinct to participate in one of democracy's most sacred acts. She would be the last early voter in Georgia to cast her ballot in the presidential race.
No drumrolls ushered Dawson to the voting booth. But as I glanced at the flag hanging in that polling place, I could almost hear "The Star-Spangled Banner." The perilous fight our nation has endured crystallized with images of valiant patriots jailed, beaten, even lynched in their attempts to cast a ballot.
In the long march to this day, I reflect on the role of the unsung heroes captured in sepia tones in history books.
During an election season punctuated with historic firsts, millions of voters around the country braved lines that stretched for hours. In Virginia, where we challenged the antiquated election system and pushed for extended voting hours and paper ballots, even the judge denying our motion confessed that he had waited in line for over two hours to cast an absentee ballot.
In Craven, N.C., there was a failed blatant attempt at voter intimidation when a casket with a likeness of Barack Obama was placed inside a polling place.
We also confronted scores of other voter suppression tactics, including misinformation about the date of the election and polling locations and claims that people could vote by phone, that students voting in their college towns could lose financial aid, or voters with unpaid child support or parking tickets could be subject to arrest.
Thankfully, such despicable measures could not stem the righteous tide of change. And here we are at this astoundingly triumphant moment with the election of Obama, America's first African-American president.
A moment 232 years in the making—from the end of chattel slavery to today—we are witness to the most inclusive election enjoyed by the largest, best-informed, motivated electorate in our nation's history.
Consider that some African-American precincts saw the number of registered voters swell to 95 percent of those eligible. In some locations, more than 90 percent of those registered actually voted, many for the first time and others for the first time in years. They turned out because it finally mattered.
These stunning statistics represent engagement in the political process on a colossal scale. It is proof through the night that democracy is here.
It is fitting to remember race riots in Springfield, Ill., in 1908 that killed scores of black people and drove thousands more from the city. The atrocity moved labor activist William English Walling to take up the cause of the victims, penning an article that demanded: What large and powerful body of citizens is ready to come to their aid? The birth of the NAACP the following year was the response.
It is equally fitting that the man who has desegregated the highest office in the land and transformed the reality for millions of black and brown children by affirming that color need not be a barrier to high pinnacles launched his candidacy for president of the United States in Springfield.
As we bask in the glow of Obama's stunning victory, the battles are still many. Racial and gender-based discrimination continue to warp our housing, employment, and credit markets. Nearly 50 million Americans are without health insurance. Foreclosures spiral upward. Racial profiling persists. No Child Left Behind has abandoned hundreds of thousands of children in underfunded schools. Wars rage on two fronts.
Still, we have proof through the night that an engaged, inspired nation can come together across racial, cultural, and generational boundaries to bring about change.
Real change can happen as we harness the energy that enables us to achieve the extraordinary, even as we fight for simple justice and basic opportunities. These things can propel us forward as we step out into the dawn's early light.
Benjamin Todd Jealous is president and CEO of the NAACP.
Reader Comments
Sharing a piece of my heart
Inauguration
By Nicole M. Southern
In shoes of his own but footsteps left behind
Walked first by others expecting and envisioning today…
The beginning
The dawning of a sun so many thought would never rise
Complacently becoming used to cold and dark winters,
Overwhelmed by the first fires of sunrise
Encompassed and then ejected from the ashes,
Seemingly cruel but warm awakenings to spring
An open field encased but yet unfrozen
Delayed and so denied…
So still deferred, undeveloped, and unfinished
Burned at the brink of fruition over and over again
Imprisoning the open mind, strategically daring not to dream
…unspoken, unsupported, and unpursued
Until today
But isn’t it characteristic of hope to rise out of ashes?
Spreading open its wings like the phoenix
So boldly and brilliantly about the sky
As it embarks upon its first flight adventure?
Finally awake, taking in that first breath
New inspiration expanding the lungs of expectation
So thought long overdue and suddenly found impeccably punctual.
It is beginning and also has begun
So long ago before we could remember,
And why the ones who lived to see us here will never forget
The day the waters parted and we walked upon the blessed land of promise.
The golden pavement, its potential legacy to pass
Ahead and seed the fruited plains of majesty to come
In soil that becomes more soft with every tender step
And fertile from the blood of every effort passed
Finally, become the place “for ourselves and our posterity,”
Going back to giving rest for those found truly weary;
Founded in the hope of new beginning, still fragile but forever beating strong…
No longer wallowing in gestation,
Finally delivered and expecting
History in the making of American ways:
The dream delivered, no longer “deferred”
Solely “for the content of his character.”
©2009 Nicole Monique Southern
black and white / Obama and Dr. King
Good job NAACP.....keep stirring everything up so the wedge between the blacks and the whites goes deeper. Until your organization stops throwing the black mans issues in the white mans face, nothing will ever change. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a very wise man that wanted for everyone in this nation and around the world, regardless of color, to walk hand in hand, together, to make this country greater. I don't believe he waned to keep bringing up the past and reliving it constantly and using it as a "social crutch" to get what you want. He wanted to move forward. This "white" generation (i use the word white, because in this country we are all bunched together as one people if our skin isn't quite dark enough) does not deserve the ridicule it receives day in and day out from your organization and others. I have been told on numerous occasions that I owe the "black Community" an apology for what "my people" did to them. Well, here is a little insight to what and who "my people" are. My people came over on a boat 2 generations ago. That's right, my moms side was Sicilian, and my dads side was Irish. No one in my family was even an American when all of this went on, but still I pay the price because my skin is light. Why is this not racism? When will it change? Where will it end with the black community? How much is enough? Why should I pay for the sins of some that I was not associated with? Now that you have a president that is, well, half black if he is that, do you think he is gonna just write every black person a check, pay off all of his/her bills, and give him/her a free ride. Why should the color of his skin matter? Do you know how many "white devils" voted for President Elect Obama? Why not take another look at his acceptance speech, and see how many white (or non dark skinned) people you see. Just as many whites as blacks. You didn't win this election on your own as a single race. Believe it or not, it was won the way Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have wanted it.....Black & White, standing hand in hand, together.......why cant' we build on that? Or should I ask, WHY CAN"T YOU BUILD ON THAT AS AN ORGANIZATION? Why not put that in a press release with a title that says..."....Racial barriers broken for a common cause ! Congrats Obama!
I guess the "white devils" will not get any press for standing with the Black community and making history. But that is o.k., because my creator, Jesus Christ, knows what went into getting our next President elected, and he knows where the hate and the negativity is in this country and we will all answer to that on our judgment day. I will be praying for your organization in the hope it will start trying to put out the fire between our races in this country, instead of constantly adding wood to the already burning blaze!
God Bless!
not even black
he's not even black
obamas at least half white.
and why does there have to be an NAACP these days?
seems to me the only thing they're good for is stirring up trouble and causing the racial barrier to WORSEN.
maybe its time for an NAAWP.
advertisement
