"Girl, I am in tears walking to the polls", "Dee there are sooo many people on line and first time voters including my father" " OMG..I feel so empowered" and the list can go on! These were texts from my various friends and family who were ALREADY on their way to the polls, if not there already to BARACK the VOTE!
So I was just sooooo excited after seeing and hearing this. I then got up, got my lil girl dressed and we went on our way to make history. YES the lines were EXTREMELY LONG...EVERYWHERE!
I have never seen this in my 26 years on this planet on election day! NEVER! I don't think anyone has seen it to this magnitude...and to see the YOUNG people was amazing!!!
I am talking young - like 18 getting their vote on early in the morning! The media better acknowledge this and they better know it's not because of ol' puffy cheeks either, and they better report that fairly. The headlines should be "Obama brings out tons of youth to the polls" or "Obama has brought LIFE back into this county and revitalized the democracy that we are supposed to live up to in this nation. "
I am soooo PROUD, sooo PROUD not only because we know how awesome he is but because as an African American woman my heart is full.
Close to 400 years ago my ancestors were brought here from their country to work as slaves to other people's land, farms, industries and to be seen as just another means of production. 40 years ago (JUST 40) 1968...we had another civil rights act signed by Lyndon B. Johnson to the follow up act of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because we were still being discriminated against, treated less than humane, not being seen or embraced as full citizens with equal rights.
I walk to the polls and with each step I think of those before me who tried to ADD on and make a change. I think of Harriet Tubman who was a strong woman determined not to just sit and accept her life as a slave. I think of Frederick Douglas who was a firm believer in equality and also the 1st black man to run for Vice-Presidency, I think of Nat Turner, Carter G. Woodson, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, W.E.B. Du Boise, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Emmitt Till, Rosa Parks.
I think of all my ancestors who shared the same blood line as me and yet I don't know there names I take steps for them.
I take steps for my NANA who is no longer here, who gave me the best years of my life, she would be SOOOOO proud and I could almost here her dotting after Obama saying "He is gonna win it all - that's a fine man".
I think of my Aunt Edna who would have gotten up and gotten ready early to be one of the first to stand in line, because her voice would have been heard first! (She was something - and don't let them do nothing shady at the polls, because you were gonna get told off) ..I take steps for my grandfathers, great aunts, and uncles and all my relatives who have passed on.
They may not be here physically but their working overboard, and they have the best seats in the house.
I look forward to tonight at around maybe 11 PM when the results are in and President Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech! I know I will be crying a river,most likely screaming and I will remember when I heard these words for the 1st time:
"...And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³
YES.... I am PROUD and I AM EVEN MORE PROUD TO FINALLY SEE COLOR AS NOT A BARRIER TO GREATNESS, TO SUCCESS, TO ATTAIN YOUR DREAMS!
I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!!!
HAPPY VOTING!!!!
THE CELEBRATION IS COMING.....
XOXOXOXOXOO
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