I wrote this on the morning of the election, before Obama was confirmed as the President-Elect:
There are not enough words to signify what today means to America. There won’t be enough votes cast, not enough door knocks, phone calls, emails, negative election ads, debates, SNL skits, Bill Maher New Rules, CNN undecided voter polls, black militants, red(neck) states to truly put in perspective the magnitude of what will happen today; whether it’s Obama (who I clearly support) or McCain (who will have me consider job opportunities in Canada and Japan), today history will be made.
However, I will take some time to reflect on my experience over the last several years and how it all comes full circle into today.
I was in DC on 9/11 when our country was attacked by whoever made the attacks (Al Qaeda, Taliban, Saddam, government setup, who knows). I remember the feeling I had when I watched the planes go into the World Trade Center, and how the media immediately blamed Bin Laden and islamic terrorists groups. At that exact moment, I remember buying into the hype of that. As I walked to class, I remember looking out into the southern sky and seeing smoke coming from the Pentagon, and having to hear the voice of my middle eastern IT professor asking us to calm down and try to get through class when the images of Arabs was going through my head. “Yeah right homie” I thought at the time as I walked out of class and called my mom to tell her I’m alright. And I remember her saying “son, of course you’re alright. There’s enough terrorism in the hood where Al Qaeda don’t even have to worry about y’all.”
I ALSO remember how that day single-handedly put our country in a recession and how it gave us permission to single people out because of something they can’t control. As a graduating senior, I remember how companies were given the go-ahead to not have to recruit at Howard anymore because of the risk of minorities and international students in their companies. The prospects of multiple companies I wanted to interview for after spending my junior year busting my ass to get my grades up dwindled because companies decided to “go back to their original base schools”, which was translated into “well, we don’t need to hire black people this year, so we’re not.” I also remember in 2002 how Enron folded, and a lot of people who graduated with me were found scrambling to find a job when they got word that Arthur Andersen was no more and that Accenture pulled offers from students who had already put security deposits on new apartments and down payments on new cars.
I remember getting a job with Aetna, and seeing how I was an enemy of my co-workers from Day 1 because I was there “to take away another job from someone with more tenure and knew what they were doing.” I remember seeing the writing on the wall at the company, where there were voluntary and involuntary terminations left and right, and as the people left, their desks occupied with Infosys consultants from India because of the tax breaks Aetna received, along with a drastic decrease in overhead costs. I remember losing my first job out of school after a year because I was in a position that I didn’t “deserve” and was too “young and inexperienced” for.
I remember the night I crossed the sands into Alpha Phi Alpha, and only having a few minutes to celebrate, because my ACE was about to be deployed to Iraq at 0600 hours the next morning to go fight in a war based on a lie. I remember the night before having a 30 minute prayer session with my LB’s, my Dean, and my Dean of Hell, praying for the security of the job I eventually lost, and for the safety of my ACE.
I remember sitting in my Ambler, PA apartment for almost a year, looking for a job, and couldn’t get callbacks, let alone an interview, because I wasn’t a local boy, and because the economy STILL had not recovered from 9/11. 12 months I looked for a job, and couldn’t get anything, in the greatest country in the world, yet still permitted discrimination as it saw fit. I remember having to take a job that paid me much less than my worth as a Howard graduate in order to keep the lights on and my undergrad debt payments current.
I remember going to the polls in 2004 to vote to get Bush out of office, and, thanks to Karl Rove, having to justify to my Christian friends that being saved is not exclusive to being Republican, and that if you’re voting the GOP ticket based on your faith, then you’re not really Christian because the God I serve and the Jesus I know is more progressive than the one that Bush is telling you is real. I remember writing a blog on Myspace about me being sick of Old Testament Christians (which really makes you Jewish, but I digress).
I remember in summer 2005, when I started my MBA program, and dealing with the tragedy of Katrina, and how Bush did the same thing he did on 9/11: CHILL AND DO NOTHING!! I remember the hearts that were hurt by government’s lack of urgency and care, the lives that were lost, the neighborhoods that, to this day, are still trashed and ruined. I remember Earl Graves saying on the Michael Baisden show that the government will not help US in New Orleans because they need an excuse to gentrify the city. I also remember the spirit of the Andrew Rankin Chapel at Howard and how they mobilized a group of students to go down there and help with the clean up as their Alternative Spring Break initiative (one they continue to this day).
I remember that same semester, sitting in economics class, and our professor spoke upon how the government’s spending is going to come back and bite us in the ass before 2010, because the rich are getting too many tax cuts and how we keep borrowing money from Asia to make up for that.
I remember the Spring of 2007 when looking to be part of the American dream and purchase a house. I remember a bank approving me for a loan that I had no business being in, in a market (and city) I had no business buying in at the time. I remember how most of the families in my subdivision were families that were given incentives to leave their homes in Atlanta in 2004 to move out to this brand new housing area in Ellenwood where the houses were bigger, and you could get a loan regardless of income or credit. I remember a month after I moved into my house how 1/3 of the families on my block had their houses for sale because the 3-year ARM loans they had skyrocketed their payments and they could no longer afford the houses they were in, yet the neighborhoods they moved from were replaced with Atlantic Station, shopping centers, and $500k studio condos. People thinking they had something better, turning out to be worse.
I remember earlier this year when I noticed my frat bro, Jarvis Houston, signed up to be part of the Obama campaign, and him sending me a gmail message asking me to help organize people in Atlanta to start up an Atlanta division of his new org, Young and Powerful for Obama. Knowing that PR, marketing, and event planning wasn’t my blessing, I forwarded his email to my best friend, Justin Tanner, who took it and RAN his ass. It not only gave him an opportunity to work for Obama, but it also expanded his promotions business and gave him a potential desire to work in politics. It made him think of going into a new direction he never thought of during his law school days.
I remember losing my job due to economic cutbacks within the firm, and having to make a decision to try and maintain my life in the A, or do what’s best for my career. I remember the day that Obama accepted the nomination for President was the same day that I was extended an offer to move to Chicago for better pay in a more cultured world city. I remember the joy and inspiration I had listening to Obama’s speech and the confidence that on 11/5 this could be a reality.
I remember listening to the Steve Harvey morning show on 9/24, and listening to Ludacris mention how 9/22 was the first day that you could early vote in GA, and running down to the county elections office in Decatur to vote early, because my vote was more important in a red(neck) state than it would be in a blue one. I remember getting there and the feeling I had when I had to wait for an hour; not because they were disorganized, but because there were at least 150 people ahead of me (mainly black voters) who were there to vote early for Obama. I also remember wearing my Barack the Vote T-shirt as I drove from Atlanta to Chicago to re-start my new life, after a false start in Atlanta, and the looks I got from good ol boys in Tennessee and Kentucky as I would stop to get food or get gas for the car, and how I haven’t eaten that fast since my journey into Alpha, LOL.
I remember this past month, how I met soror Angela and my Cali buddy Kamilah, who encouraged me to come out to Obama events in town, and to join them on a road trip to Indy to do canvassing for the campaign. I remember not knowing until a week ago what the hell canvassing meant because I have never been a political person at all. Yet, I stepped out on faith and understood that this election was not about me and what I wanted, and it was about what’s best for this country, and who can lay the foundation for my children when they eventually get here.
I remember getting on the bus on saturday to head to Indy with my pillow in tow and a Ziploc bag full of Snickers minis and meeting all of the new faces who were there for the same cause; a group of people that I didn’t meet through a greek mixer or a Howard event for once. I remember arriving at the campaign headquarters and running into a melting pot of people who were there to work and work hard: black, white, hispanic, gay, lesbian, muslim, jewish, tall, short, older, younger, Alpha, Que, Kappa, AKA, Delta, Mason, OES, upper class, middle class, lower class, and sometimes no class at all (LOL).
I remember walking through a neighborhood that reminded me of Southside Chicago, the concrete Jungles of LA, SWATS, SE DC, South Philly, and knocking on the doors of handicapped older people, hood chicks with dogs that were shot during a drive-by on the block earlier that week, homes we thought were occupied, yet were vacant due to foreclosure, REAL Joe Six Packs, REAL Joe the Plumbers, thugs who were willing to violate parole to walk across the street to vote for Obama today, hispanics having a 15 hour party on their front lawn, cooking up chicken and drinking Corona, and even though they hardly knew English, they knew the name OBAMA and could say “Si Se Puede (yes we can)”. I remember the poker faced, pure white Christian man that Erica spoke to in a Section 8 apartment complex on the west side of Indy who said that God told him to vote democratic this year, and since Obama’s a democrat that’s who he’s voting for.
I remember all the stairs that I climbed and the hundreds of doors me and other volunteers from the Chi knocked on this past weekend, and the hope that our efforts will not go in vain today. I remember going to the club in Indy and having a great time, but then getting more hyped about the Obama mixed tape in Kamilah’s car on the way back to the hotel. I remember all of the new friends I made this past weekend who were joined for one common cause, and for at least 2 days, were on the same page.
I remember this morning waking up with the excitement and joy of a young boy who was waiting for Christmas to see his new toys under the tree, the first day school to floss my new gear, and the last day of school to get into summer…… COMBINED. I cannot explain the joy I have for today and what could happen by the time we lay our heads down for bed tonight.
Everyone has their story of what led them to this moment. Our parents do, our grandparents do, the teachers and professor who gave us their education and knowledge as we grew up, the Sister O’Dell’s of the black churches who kept us in line when we acted up during sunday school, the villages of our communities and churches who train us as children in the way we did go, or should have gone. Today is for our ancestors, the day that Tupac would have willfully eaten his words when he said America’s not ready to have a black president, the day when we can be truly be judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character, the day when America decides as one voice to stop being bitchass and hypocrites and be about the freedom that we believe the world should have, the day when 500 years of oppression, suppression, and depression will be silenced. If you voted in the last several weeks the way I voted on 9/24 in that small elections office in Decatur, GA, 11/5 will be a day of celebration and reflection.
Regardless, today WE MADE HISTORY.
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