and Then History was Made......

I group major events in my life in two categories. Those categories are in acronym forms forms of S.E.E.s and S.T.E.s. The first one stands for what most are familiar with as Significant Emotional Events and the other is one coined by me Sphincter Tighten Event. I explain the second one because everyone knows about the first.

A S.T.E happens when you have been subjected to an unhealthy or unusual amount of stress. Remember not all stress is bad. Good stress increases your performance level through deadlines and challenge because it sometimes causes your body to produce adrenaline which may lead to profound levels of physical and mental performance. Think of a football game that's down to the wire and the play is designed for you to score, the pressure is on but your body responds appropriately.

Moving right along. Tuesday, 8 November 2008 history was made in this country and this world. I say this world because the U.S. is the undisputed leading super power in the world. This election will affect how our fellow world leaders few this nation. Don't ever discount that, mark my words. We are already having "slips" of tongues on how world leaders feel about our new president elect. Just google Italy's prime minister's bad choice in jokes and compliments.

This was a S.E.E. that bulled it's way to my top 3 in life. I will not divulge what are the other two because that's between myself and those involved. After being forced to read inaccurate protrayals of Black leaders for years in school and college and wonder if we would ever get over this horrific racial injustice hump I did witness what many elders deemed what would never happen in my lifetime or theirs.

Rappers have made songs addressing the matter for years. One of the most poignant lyrics ever concerning this monumental occurrence was said by the late Tupac Shakur many years ago in his rap "The Way It Is". Pac rhymes "and long he's heaven sent, we ain't ready to have a Black president". I guess Pac it was heaven sent? Nas later updated the issue and now has the one song that defines this event on his 2008 "Untiled" cd the song is appropriately titled "Black President". I encourage you all to find the DJ Green Latern mixtape version of this track. The reason is that you get the President Obama democratic nomination speech sample that starts the track. Very powerful song that sums up what the new president's monumentous rise to power. Once Nas gets away from the valid threats he may face, the very provactive truth of past presidents having African bloodlines (do the knowledge-it's true), pardon's for innocent Blacks in prison, putting Jeremiah Wright in his place, needed shots at racist, McCain's lame apology for not acknowledging MLK's federal holiday in Arizona and the required braggadocio as a rapper. The hook sums it up "Let's begin, Change the world!-(Pres. Obama-"they said" then "change the world!").

I've been playing that track all week. Heck at 1030 EST I was playing it loudly in my house! I had tears in my eyes. My bestfriend of 20+ years called we rejoiced on the phone and shed tears as men because we actually lived what people thought would never happened. My unlimited text plan on my cell phone was pushed to it's limits. I crafted my own texts that suddenly became forwards back to me that night and the following morning. I was simply tired of the ignorant jokes that I was receiving. I pissed off some acquiantences because I told them refrain from sending me the jovial racist and ignorant garbage.

Here are some questions I asked my peer groups recently now that the celebrations are dying down and opponents have come to grips and have realized the people have spoken and have taken appropriate action.

o Is Pres. (Elect) Obama now the greatest Black American ever?

o Does his accompolishment supersede Dr. King's efforts?

o Are we now seeing Dr. King's dream actually materialize in front of us? Meanining have we made his dream "tangible"?

o Should everyone deal with the reality that he will utimately be judge on his accompolishments as the president four years from now?

The one thing that we are forgetting is that now all Black parents can look their children in the eye and really have concrete evidence that their children can be anything just by pointing as his picture. I always looked at our Black astronauts for inspiration but now our kids will have the most powerful man on the planet to look up to and that statement is no longer a cliche!

The one thing I studied about his campaign is that I know he looked at Rev. Jackson's and Shirley Chisolm's campaigns and he realized you can't win if you only appear to address one demographic. You are running for the president of United States of America position not as the leader of a race. He caught everyone's eye in '04 with that stunning speech about unity at the Dem Convention. Now that I look at that speech I see foundation of his success. He had a crowd of mixed raced people nodding their heads in agreement with his every word. I was thinking this man is incredible! Then I began to look at him as a person and he was an everyday man. He shot hoops with his friends after work, he smoked (not good but he quit-lol), he had a sense of humor, he spoke like a man in my neighborhood, he chose his words wisely but knew when to bite and he acknowledge those who supported him with an undying sense of concern in his voice and eyes.

Did he garned votes because he's bi-racial? I'm saying no! He achieved this feat because he appealed to everyone who simply was tired of probably the worse president ever in the history of the US. He got me when I saw in an interview say "We must get out of Iraq as careful as carelessly as we got into it." I'm a Soldier and thought wow! This man said that with conviction but he took that stab at Bush with thought and precision. I really didn't care if he never served because he saw the Iraq War from a social and veteran standpoint. I've always said "Military service does not mean you are a stellar person because we thousands of turds in uniform who commit crimes too."

Anyway let's sit back and watch the change! Obama in '12!