Liberty, Democracy, Opportunity and Unyielding Hope

As most of you can guess, I’m a very rare bird in Alabama. My one little vote was drowned in a sea of red, but that’s okay. My friends might think I’m a fool, but that’s okay, too. Because I voted my heart. Because I thought the time was right to “vote for change.” Despite all I’ve learned about each candidate’s policies, potential tax increases, stances on abortion, gun control, the economy, the environment and foreign policy, in the end I voted for change. 

I didn’t vote for a Democrat, and I didn’t vote for a socialist (as some of my friends and coworkers like to call Obama), I voted for what I believed was a pivotal change in perception of America, from within as well as from beyond our borders, and one that I believe was well past due and desperately needed. McCain, I’m sure, would have served his country well as president. But in the end the perception would have been “more of the same.”

Right now, the most powerful country in the world isn’t looked upon with very much affection by the rest of the world. Some people say that doesn’t matter, but to me it does.

I served in the Navy, I was in Operation Desert Storm when we bombed out Baghdad in 1992, and I visited many foreign countries’ ports of call and the warnings I got at every one of them was almost always the same: “They don’t like us very much here in (Greece, Crete, Italy, Egypt, etc.), so be on your best behavior.” Since that time, now almost 20 years ago, America’s reputation has gone down and down and down. Now the rest of the world doesn’t just dislike us, they revile us. In many cases, we’ve given them good reason to. I know we’ve done a lot of good for the world, but our manner often overshadows our intent.

150 years ago, black people were slaves. 50 years ago in many places in the country black people couldn’t even vote. Today, the president elect of the most powerful country in the world is a black man. And that is a powerful statement for this country and its people.

In the third grade I remember quite vividly a lesson in which the teacher, Mrs. Mixon (who was a black woman, although that really shouldn’t matter, now), told us that when we grew up we could be anything we wanted to be, even (gasp!) President of the United States. But this little black kid, whose name I can’t remember now, said that that was wrong. He said black kids can’t grow up to be president. And maybe at the time he was right, but you know what? That perception just changed. And I hope wherever he is today, that guy who I went to school with in third grade can tell his kids with complete honesty and conviction that they can be whatever they want to be, even president of the United States. America is now, for the first time ever, the Land of Opportunity for all of its citizens.

And if you think that isn’t a considerable accomplishment, if you think that’s something that doesn’t really matter or shouldn’t be a major consideration when electing a president of these United States, then you probably were never a black kid, and it’s quite possible you’re not really considering the impact that perception alone can have on any situation, even on the worldwide stage.

Regardless, I realize that it’s possible that I–or we, this country–elected the wrong guy for president. He may make a mess of the country and the economy and he may further divide our people rather than bring them closer together. It’s something I do have a little anxiety about, because I do believe this is, as I said, a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. But the election of Barack Obama will resonate worldwide, whereas the election of John McCain would have fizzled and the collective world would have shrugged and went on about their business of hating America. America, in my mind, has just overcome a monumental hurdle in its timeline, and I believe the world at large will now take notice with interest instead of disdain. In many ways, the most powerful country in the world has finally, legitimately, grown up. This couldn’t have been accomplished with the honorable and esteemed John McCain in the White House.

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Yesterday at work I looked out the window of the conference level at our building and saw, two blocks away, the 16th Street Baptist Church, which has gotten a face-lift these last few years. I look at it often, and, realizing what it represents, I still feel a little rage boil in my gut at what has transpired here in the not-too-distant past. It’s significant, because when Obama was projected to win, a reporter with Fox situated in Birmingham was interviewing another of the seeming millions of MLK’s horde of lieutenants (who were, every one of them, standing at the side of King when he was shot down in Memphis). He was of a sanguine disposition, crying and cheering as they asked him what it meant to him to see a black man elected to the White House. But as he was speaking they cut away and played video of Bull Connor-led police opening up fire hoses on black people in the streets of Birmingham. It’s a stigma that the South has earned, yes (and I admit I feel a little rage too by the people of this country who’ve forgotten that those racially tense times were not restricted to Alabama and the South, but across the whole country), but it’s my fondest hope for this country to heal from these wounds now, and put those deeds behind us. We shouldn’t forget, no, and we never will, but for our own well-being, we should, I believe, shake hands and look forward now towards a brighter tomorrow.

Success and opportunity are now officially available to anyone who has the desire, the will, and the courage to succeed.