IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!

My president is black, ya'll! Well, more accurately, my president-ELECT is black. But semantics, shamantics. The point is, after 219 years of democracy, we have finally elected a non-white president, and I believe the title above says it all. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think Obama's election means that all of a sudden all of America's problems are going to magically disappear, but I do think it is a big step for a country that was literally built on racism. And for the record, no matter how much some people would like to believe this election proves it is, racism is not dead and gone. As much as I'd love for it to be, it just is not; but I do have to give America as a whole some credit for coming together behind an African-American (who isn't Oprah).

At this point I almost feel sorry for my new president-elect. He's got a lot to deal with. Our economy is in shambles, the country is at war, and, to top it all off, men who were rejected by a woman who was rejected by Flava Flav are running around looking for love and trying to stay relevant. Yes I mean you, "Stallionaires". Although, I must give you some props because it is my firm belief that you guys are singlehandedly keeping the ProStyl protein gel company in business. My baby-hair thanks you. But back to my original point: this country is a scary place.

And in this time of turmoil, Barack Obama is not only going to be expected to fix it all, but to make every move perfectly as he does. It's the age old story for African Americans. We have to do twice as much and work twice as hard to get half as far as our white counterparts. Every move he makes will be graded, and he doesn't have the same learning curve all our previous president's had. One mistake, one misstep, and people start questioning whether we should have ever elected a black man as president in the first place. His presidency could very well be the determining factor on whether our first black president, will also be our last black president. Quite a bit of pressure for one man.

I've really said all this to say that I sincerely hope I am wrong. I hope that people realize that Barack Obama is only human, and thus entitled to a mistake here and there. I hope we all can begin to hold ourselves accountable to make positive changes for our country. And more than anything I hope that in the future we can continue to elect presidents who reflect the diversity of our nation. In any event, I voted for this man because I believe he is highly capable of performing the tasks at hand. The road ahead isn't going to be an easy one. We have 8 years of damage to undo, and it won't be undone overnight, but I believe we've chosen the right man to lead us through this time and bring us together as a country.