I am sitting alone in my hotel room in New York. Watching the American election. Watching a new President being elected. President Barack Hussein Obama.
I am crying on my own…
I didn’t think this would ever be possible. I am not crying for Obama. I am crying for freedom. I am crying for all those people in America and across the world who lived and died for this. Do you know what this means? To us? To the world? Barack Obama. A black man. A black man has been elected the President of the United States of America.
I know that you elected him because he is the best guy for the job. Not because he is black. But it means something else to us. There is hope. Just a tiny little sunshine in this world.
You fucking Americans. You drive me fucking crazy. You bitch. You moan. You go to senseless wars. And then you do this…
You fucking Americans…
Tonight I love you more than you will know. My soul has been heavy over the last few weeks. Not because of this election. Because of this world. The kids out there dying from dirty water. The men dying in wars. The women dying along the road looking for a better place. The world is one fucked-up place. And it feels heavy on my soul. Too heavy. But tonight you made it a little bit lighter. I know we are not alone. I know we are not fighting on our own. You are with us. At least for tonight. Tonight is ours.
You fucking Americans…
Just when we are about to give up hope. Give up on you. You do this. You give hope back.
This will go out to the world. Anything can happen. Anything is possible. Anything…
Tomorrow we will continue our struggle to make this world a better place. We will fight a good fight. We will take another step. Just one step. But with a bit of bounce in it. Because we can bring hope to those who have given up. We can point to America and say, “See. See what they have done? Never give up. Never, ever give up.”
You fucking Americans…
I am proud to live with you in your beautiful country today. I am honored to share your space. I am not American. But today I am. I am American. We all are. We are the hope you bring when you stand up straight and shine a little light on this world.
You fucking Americans…
I am alone in my room. But I have never felt this close to people outside my beautiful home called Africa.
I am African. I am American.
__________________________
Sorry about the swearing. I try not to use too many swear words in my posts. But not tonight. There was no other way to say what I felt.
November 5, 2008 at 1:10 am
Ah Africa is indeed smiling and it breathed a sigh of relief, good things do happen and there is always hope…
How wikkid is this… have you heard? Goldmember McCain is not president! Can ya belief it!
Am so happy Hugs
November 5, 2008 at 1:35 am
@SanityFound – You said it… There is always hope. Haha! Goldmember can go quietly and retire now. The day will be brighter in the morning.
November 5, 2008 at 3:36 am
I’m still in shock.
I feel like they just repeated every number on my lottery ticket.
I feel like that kid in the photo above!
November 5, 2008 at 4:41 am
I cried with joy in the early hours this morning when we heard the news…
I had tears yearning to flow reading your article so, so sincere and from the heart – you have a real talent for words – it is rare that I find the use of the F word so justified..!
We never doubted in our of hearts that Americans would see the light and vote accordingly…
However, we’d all been holding our breaths for so long, to exhale at last was emotionally and physically such a relief, of an indescribable intensity…
“I just wish Martin Luther King was here to share the joy”
said Jesse Jackson
I couldn’t agree more..:)
P.S love the photo – that kid is so cool..!
November 5, 2008 at 4:45 am
I can’t quite believe it myself – there is hope after all! But now the poor man has to clean up after Bush……as Hillary put it “Bush…the lamest of all lame ducks”.
November 5, 2008 at 5:24 am
Great post!!! Well said..and awesome emotion! We were up at 3.30 am watching it..savouring it!!!!
It’s awesome to see everyone errupt in happiness, in hope..!I may not live there today…but I feel like my dream came true!
November 5, 2008 at 5:52 am
This post gives lots of food for thought…………. Thanks for adding your perspective. I reread it to my wife this morning out loud and I too had a tear in my eye.
PS. Continue to write your heart and don’t let anyone tell you how to do it.
November 5, 2008 at 5:55 am
pps…… It’s nice to be on the other side. The sun will be brighter.
November 5, 2008 at 8:21 am
You wrote “I am crying on my own…”
Though you may have been alone in a hotel room, you are far from alone in crying. I too share your tear, and thank you for such a wonderful post.
November 5, 2008 at 8:30 am
Wonderful isn’t it! The promise of America belongs to everyone.
November 5, 2008 at 8:39 am
HPD,
Love is in the air
Everywhere I look around
Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound
And I don’t know if I’m being foolish
Don’t know if I’m being wise
But it’s something that I must believe in
And it’s there when I look in your eyes
To borrow from Iyanla Van Zandt, last night, my soul opened up and took flight. This means that people are capable of change, the question answered, finally, yes, you can grow up to be anything to want to be. This morning’s coffee a little fresher, the rich taste on my tongue, the world wasn’t so heavy for a while. We’re not Atlas, sometimes you have to put the burden of guilt down.
Ubuntu, I am because you are….peace
November 5, 2008 at 8:52 am
My brother… thank you for crying with me… I love you!
November 5, 2008 at 9:37 am
You know what?
Last night, I was talking to my brother in law, his cousin Gary in Ohio, on one phone, my best freind Earl and his daughter on the other phone, and Millie next door with a sister and a brother I don’t know.
I was giving terrorist fist bumps and hugs to all manner of people.
Banging pots and yelling America! America! America!
FUCK Hannity, O’Reilly, Buchannon, and Limbaugh.
They aren’t Americans.
FUCK them. Because I saw REAL Americans last night.
And Limbaugh?
He can eat squirrel…
November 5, 2008 at 1:31 pm
@53_3 –
Ever eaten squirrel?
I recommend something less palatable….
How bout some ‘sun-dried turd’?
November 5, 2008 at 1:34 pm
@AA – very nice piece. Thanks. & I’m looking forward to brighter days!
Hope yours are back!
November 5, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Congrats!
November 5, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I found your blog through the “suggested related posts” at the end of my latest WordPress post. From another (white) African in America…Hi. How is it that we have similar header images on our blogs? Interesting
I will have many hours of reading through your blog. Hi again.
November 5, 2008 at 3:58 pm
scienkoptic:
I see you your ‘sun-dried turd’ and raise you a steaming, warm bowl of yellowish-brown…
Hey! You sad sacks out there in GOP land!
Didja notice that the same 4.568 billion year old yaller star come up this morning to shine in the same blue sky to shine on the same street with the same trees and the same houses and the same people driving the same cars with the same spouses as they did yesterday?
Being the country is still the same, and the planet hasn’t yet flipped or something, and Africa hasn’t yet tectonically cruised across the Atlantic to ram Florida prior to boarding and pillaging, with them Acrifans, er whatever they is, swarming over the gunwales to rape and steal your women, have you yet bothered to figure out why so many people here and around the world are so happy about it all?
We got rid of you!
And did it as quick as yesterday’s garbage…
November 5, 2008 at 5:19 pm
@53_3:
Or maybe he’ll fall off the Oxy wagon and go blind this time!
Mega Dildos!
November 5, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Unfortunately, neither of us will get what we wish for, except maybe the Oxy fate you’ve prescribed.
My hope:
If the Oxy don’t get him, apoplexy will.
November 5, 2008 at 6:06 pm
@uglyblackjohn – It reminds me of the saying “when hell freezes over”. The idea of this happening ever in our lifetime… I am sitting here ready to go to another meeting and still can’t get the grin off my face. Just checked the newspaper again to double check I wasn’t watching some “reality” program!
@India J – That’s it! Just like you said it. We held out breath for so long… Man, inside I am jumping like that kid. Today belongs to us and hope.
@Caroline – This is where we come in. He can not clean this up alone. He’ll need some help. We all own this together. The good and bad. But I would rather have him and help him clean up than the alternative! But let’s just party for a little while loonger.
@Shilpa – Right! We all feel like we own this. Like this is part of all of us. No matter where we are. We can have a little bit of the goodness for a while.
@skuttlefish – Welcome back boet! It’s over. Now the crap starts. And thanks for the compliment. That’s huge. Really. The fact that you enjoy my writing even when you don’t like or agree with what I write. Thanks boet.
@Suprk – I think that was why I cried. I could almost feel the world crying with me. I knew I was alone… But not.
@Coffeewallah – I should have thought of that song! Thank you! I am because we are. So true for today.
@Amber – How odd that crying can make us feel so much better. These tears have been building up. And to let them go…
@Keven (53_30) – In a puff and they are gone. May they rot in Fox hell.
@scienkoptic – I’m back! Maybe this did get to me more than I thought. But the weight has been lifted. Onwards… Forwards… (I am so not eating that.)
@holeycheese – Thanks!
@natzgal – Welcome! I will be popping over for a visit to your side as well. (Love the picture…)
November 6, 2008 at 12:59 am
The most important thing I find is that this gives hope back to the world. It again let’s them know that we may be what they had thought we were all along ….until this last 8 years. Many people here still have no idea, no idea that what we were before meant so much to the world, and how our fall in the eyes of the world hurt not only us, but the world we live in.Tht is why so many here are perplexed at the worlds involvement in this election.
I didn’t want to get my hopes up, the cynicism I had seen and read from those who were older and wiser led me to believe it might not happen, as much as I knew it had to.
I really can’t find the words because they are of relief as well as joy.
I will never be in the position to see this as an African American see or feels it, but I am much happier all of a sudden. I don’t see my country as ignorant any longer.
There are those who are ignorant, but as a whole I am happy to say we may have crossed back over that line, not to mention the lines we crossed which have never been crossed before.
I hope you saved those tears.
November 6, 2008 at 7:45 am
God bless America
Nice Post AA
November 6, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Thanks, AA–I always appreciate your words, and these are so heartfelt that they matter a lot to me.
November 6, 2008 at 9:23 pm
You know, Americans are no different really than anyone else. That kid says it all:
Happiness is in your mind and your heart!
November 6, 2008 at 9:51 pm
AA: It is so true that you were in a room alone, but you were by no means crying alone….. I cried, and cried, and cried some more….. the joy and hope that awoke in my heart was completely connected to the world, and overwhelming…..
I am so glad that you are here, with us all….
November 7, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Tears were meant for moments like this. What a week.
Barack was great in his first press meeting today as President-elect.
How comforting to hear our new President speak in thoughtful, intelligent sentences. And with grace and humor.
November 8, 2008 at 2:04 pm
[...] read what Mr. Goodenough predicts will be the devastating results for Israel, I have read my friend AngryAfrican’s happy swearing about [...]
November 9, 2008 at 10:16 am
My favorite cartoon so far:
http://www.time.com/time/cartoonsoftheweek/0,29489,1857318_1794614,00.html
November 9, 2008 at 10:18 pm
@Cooper – Oh I saved them. Packed away right next to my packet of “The Release of Nelson Mandela!” I’ll keep this one. I think we’ll all keep this one.
@solon – Yes. God bless America. And thank you!
@Jan – Thank you. It is a good time to be alive.
@Keven (53_3) – You said it boet. Look at that kid. Hey? Happiness.
@vanessaleighsblog – I was alone. But I knew I wasn’t. And I am blessed to be here in the US right now.
@ilovemylife – A President that sounds great and makes sense. And can complete full sentences. Not much to ask…
November 10, 2008 at 3:50 pm
[...] Obama, Obama, Obama, a Day of Tribulation and also of shame, some weren’t so happy, some cried, some were ecstatic, some made shout outs to An American Hero either way the US elections were felt [...]