Today - July 30, 2010.
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Is President Obama going to bring us out of this recession?
Submitted by Speak out on Fri, 11/07/2008 - 11:03am.
A recent CNN survey reported that 60% of respondents of respondents had confidence in President Obama and the Stimulus Package to get the economy back on its feet.
That means that 40% of American consumers are timid about spending money and helping the economy reboot.
What side are you on? Are you confident in our new President, or scared of the bleakness of this recession?
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Talking About the Future with My Little Brother
I started the evening off with College Democrats (LA Tech Chapter) because we had thrown an election night party and invited the entire Louisiana Tech student body. But after we served food and announced out interest in the election, everyone was pretty much on their own, so I decided to step outside of the party and call my little brother.
My brother is a young African American male, with a year and half left of high school. It was very important to me to be close to him during this election (which is hard since I 'm away at school) because I really wanted him to realize the significance of what was happening. Right now, he is deciding on which colleges to begin applying to and what he might want to major in. For the past couple of years he has been struggling a little in Math. This has led him to disregarding anything that is Math related, but I was trying to get him to understand that even when something is hard and everyone is telling you you can't do it, you really still CAN do it.
President- elect Barack Obama has truly been a testimony to that. I read his book Dreams From My Father and was very inspired about all that he went through and to achieve so many of the goals he set forth for himself. My purpose for being on the phone with my brother during this historical moment was to make sure he saw what I saw. Obama is the perfect role model for my generation and my brother. As the votes were coming in, my brother and I talked about his future and how excuses should know longer hold him back. He confessed to me that we wished he was 18 so he could have voted for Obama. I also made sure to inform him of all of Obama's issues so hw would not just blindly follow him according to his skin color.
Nothing in my life was better than witnessing that moment with my brother and the nation!!
I was in Washington, DC with
I was in Washington, DC with my daughter who was recuperating from surgery. We were glued to the TV watching the news update. We heard the acceptance speech and then we rode to Howard University campus where my daughter attends school.
As a result I wrote this and emailed my congregation. So I will share it with you.
Hope + Pride = CHANGE
Yesterday, we elected the first African-American President of the United States of America. As President-elect Obama indicated in his acceptance speech, his election is not the Change that we seek it is just the beginning. Many of us have been pundits of the election and the campaign process. Many of us have been staunch, steadfast, and stalwart Obama supporters. Some may have even been supporters of McCain. However, CHANGE has just begun.
Last night as President-elect Obama gave his acceptance speech, CNN flashed scenes of masses of persons thronging the streets in Harlem, Walls Street, Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, and of course Grant Park in Chicago. There were even throngs of persons around the world celebrating this election. As Ruth and I watched the election from her apartment, she was receiving texts from friends and associates about what was going on at Howard University's campus. One of the texts that Ruth received said, "They wouldn't give us 40 acres and mule, so we took 50 states and the White House".
In a very concrete way this sentiment echoes a sense of pride in being African-American, and a sense of Hope in being an American. This type of pride and hope has not been felt in the African American community since the great civil rights movement in the late 60's and early 70's. Hope and Pride are major catalysts for Change.
While in great pain, Ruth wanted to see what was going on at HU. We drove to the campus. When we approached Georgia Avenue, one of the major streets that run parallel to HU, the police had completely blocked off about 10 blocks of the road. There were hordes of students on Georgia Avenue with pots, pans, trash containers, and crutches (anything that would make noise) celebrating the election of Barack Obama. As we got closer and closer, you could hear singing. To be honest, I really expected the kids to be singing some secular song, but what they were singing was "Victory is Mine". They even made up a verse, "The White House is Mine." Hope + Pride = CHANGE
Amidst the singing and celebrating, there were a few somber, stunned, sober faces. One young man looking almost confused said, "I can't believe this. I'm gonna stop drinking, & smoking. I'm not jay walking, running anymore red lights. I'm not even speeding through yellow lights." This young man's proclamation spoke to what I have believed for a long time. Because of a glimmer of National hope a resolve for personal change can be made. I believe that much of the acting out that we as African Americans do is the result of hopelessness. I would venture to say that we will see more and more African-Americans resolve to make personal change. Hope + Pride = CHANGE
Prior to the election, I heard teachers say that there were decisive improvements in the attitudes and behaviors of African American males in the class room. This personal change was a result of seeing someone of their hue in the media as something other than a thug, criminal, or social misfit. They saw someone successfully aspire to the highest office of the United States. Hope + Pride = CHANGE
Obama ran on a platform of Change. National, and even international change, will only be as effective as individual change. Those of us who supported Obama should search ourselves as the young man on Howard's campus and see what areas of personal change we can make as we embrace the National Change that President-Elect Obama has will lead us into.
Hope + Pride = Change
Where were you?
I was in my living room, anxiously watching the returns with my 16 year old son, and 2 year old daughter...when the election was called on CNN, we danced around the living room in celebration. Afterwards, I felt so much joy and optimism, especially for my children-- how their world views will be vastly different from my generation's....it was an incredible moment.
Where were you?
My children and I were at home, unfortunately asleep. I did receive two phone calls telling me the great news! My 16 year old brother called me excited as well as my cousin who lives in Florida. I must say I was very happy that Obama had won. My eyes water with joy each time I think about it. I never really thought that I would be able to eventually say to my future grand-children or possibly great-grand children that I lived to see "black history" be made! I always wondered about being present while history was being made and now I know! Congratulations "President Barack Obama"!
Waiting to see Obama
My husband and I were sitting in our bed eagerly waiting to see who will win the Presidential race. When the announcement came that he'd won I just jumped for joy in my bed. I was so blown away and so so happy. When I woke the next morning it literally felt like Christmas morning. I mean I felt like it was this great Christmas holiday. I carried that feeling for two days straight. And his speech was just awesome. I hung on to every single word he said.
Terrell Gill
I was at my sister's house
I was at my sister's house with her teenage children around. We all jumped and screamed. It was great to share that moment with them. The fact that they choose to stay up to see it for themselves made it that much better.
Dana
The Lord will give to you what you can't stop talking about.
If you talk about how blessed and loved you are, He will give you more blessings and love.
If you talk about how you have nothing and how things never get any better, He will give you more not
Well unfortunately I missed
Well unfortunately I missed it. I came home early with fever and chills. So, that theraflu knocked me out until the next morning. I still didn't see anything until the next afternoon. So I kinda missed it.
I was at home with my 5 year
I was at home with my 5 year old daughter. When I told her that Obama was going to be the first African American President she replied "Why?". For which I was speechless as I did not want to cloud her innocent, uncluttered mind. Then when Joe Biden joined Obama on stage she asked... "Mom, is that Obama's Dad?" It then occured to me that in 20 years my daughter will wonder what the fuss was all about and electing a person of color to the presidency may be rule and not the exception...
The young voters stood up and changed our world and I am forever grateful to them for their courage and faith. The black vote came out in full force probably feeling for the first time that their vote does count.
Obama
I was at home watching the election results - Once the newscaster announced President Elect Barack Obama, I screamed. I have never screamed that loud. This was one of the best days of my life (next to my wedding).
Obama
November 7, 2008
Dear family and friends,
My heart is full as I write these thoughts using the title of one of Barack Obama's books, The Audacity of Hope. I was blessed to find myself on the front row to view history in the election of the first African American to the highest office in the world. God makes no mistakes, and I was there for a reason. I am humbled and grateful for the fellowship that I witnessed as a true melting pot was exhibited before my eyes. This experience began for me four years ago when Barack addressed the National
Democratic Convention, and was solidified when he appeared on the Oprah show. My parents and I watched together and made a decision to support him if he ran for the presidency. My tenacity in encouraging others to join this effort was also fueled by the unexpected passing of my father, Cecil Williams. In one of our last conversations, dad told me: "You have to be fearless. YOU CAN IF YOU WILL, it's your choice."
I remember the night that Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. I was 10 years old and my parents cried before me at the loss. Forty years later, I stood in a crowd of more than 200,000 Americans crying for the victory.
At about 7:00 PM on November 4, 2008, I join the line of ticket holders assembled to enter Grant Park, in Chicago. The technology of my mobile phone with TV brought people together as we watched the election returns on CNN while we inched toward security. Wendy Hilton-Morrow and Diann Gano are two women from southern Illinois who traveled by bus to Chicago for the rally. Duncan Brown, another member in our immediate group traveled from Glenview, Illinois carrying a map of the US folded in his pocket that had the number of electoral delegates for each state. We were tallying the states going for Obama on paper and the count was 137 electorates for Obama and 34 for McCain by the time we entered the Park. Wendy would later write: "Can you believe what we witnessed last night? As I’ve told people about it this morning, several people have broken into tears. It was wonderful to meet you and to get to share such a monumental experience."
The atmosphere was electric and folks were already chanting OBAMA, OBAMA, OBAMA! We waited and watched the jumbotron for hours in anticipation of history. At about 8:30 PM (CST) the sound engineer entered the stage for a sound check: "Sound check, testing, sound check, testing," he announced. We watched as more states closed their polls and projections were announced. Then, at approximately 10:00 PM (CST), CNN announced that Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States of America, and the massive crowd erupted. People hugged love ones and strangers. There was the howling of a country giving birth to a new child. We named her HOPE.
My ancestors raised me up above the noise to hear my own thoughts. Then, the sound engineer returned and the crowd was dead silent. "Sound check, testing for the 44th President of the United States," he said. The crowd went crazy again, and again the tears flowed and the love poured out. We quieted for the Pledge of Allegiance, which I recited as I was instructed by my pre- integration era school teachers who taught me to respect each word and the power in them. I took up a flag that I felt belonged to me now, and sang the Star Spangled Banner with my fellow Americans. I felt the movement that we were all creating like one heart beat that vibrated from my feet upward to my head. And I thought of my heroes: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Emmitt Till and Medger Evers and Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman and Jim Simmons and Tip Hightower and Cecil Williams and Bernice Williams and Maggie Williams and Frankie Scruggs and Emma Rodgers and Cora Davis and Muhammad Ali and Learline Harrison and Ocia Grace and Malcolm X and Lusters Williams and W. E. B. Dubois and Arthur Ashe... BEFORE THE ANNOUNCEMENT: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the 44th President of the United States of America!!" That crowd was so loud that my ears were ringing. But when Barack spoke, you could immediately hear a pin drop in the grass.
Barack's acceptance speech moved us all to tears again. When Michelle, Malia and Sasha were on stage the magnitude of this new First Family was realized. It did happen, I was there, we all watched. And still, no one could leave the park for hours after the stage emptied. We wanted to stay there in that place, at that time, forever. This country is not the same place for me any longer. All the cynicism that I have felt with past administrations washed away with this movement that I am honored to have been A PART OF in our history and our story. God Bless America!
Marcia Williams Cromer
Obama's Election
I had to get up at 5 a.m. the next morning for work so I stayed up as long as I could. I didn't find out until the next morning. I was thrilled, overjoyed by his election. I sat my two oldest sons down (11 and 13) on the couch who were also very happy and excited and I told them that I have always told them that anything is possible if you believe and here is proof. I explained to them to never believe some of the stereotypes betrayed toward blacks. I told them that many was excited that Obama made it as far as he did but still didn't believe he would be the next president because of his race but he became the first black president. I explained to them that they have control over how thier lives turns out for them based on the choices they make. I went to work and spoke with a woman who was such an advocate for Obama and I told her the conversation I had with my sons and she called everyone and told them, she thought that was just wonderful. I pray that they heard what I said and apply it to their lives.