Whooooooooooooooo!!!

Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! I have no voice. I was screaming that all night. Yes! Victory! This is some crazy shit, yo. BONKERS!

courtesy of The Black Snob

I was sitting in my girl’s crib, surrounded by friends, new and old. We took a break from playing Taboo (the greatest game ever) as the results of key states started to roll in. All of a sudden, CNN threw up a bar on the bottom of the screen that said Barack Obama Elected President. The reactions were all some form of, “Wait, wha?”  “No, really?”  “Yes.”  “We’re reading it.” “Turn the channel to FoxNews. They hate Obama. If they say it, it’s gotta be true!”

It’s true.

DAMN! I looked around and between opening more beers and screaming off of the balcony on South Street, I noticed folks taking their own moments to soak it all in. Quiet and pensive. Reflective and introspective. We got up and turned on the music, dancing around the apartment. Screaming at people on the street who hadn’t yet heard. At first, people didn’t believe us. I understood. Even though days before I had already claimed this victory for Obama, I was still stunned. I guess we had all been burned before, had victories snatched away from us before right when we had it in our grasp. We know “they” cheat. But this morning at 8am, it’s really real.

Lightskinned is Back/Barack!

This Democratic National Convention is the very first DNC I’ve ever watched. Not that I haven’t been involved in the process: as soon as I turned 18 I was voting. However, I always thought the DNC was some snooze-worthy event for the press and old political fogeys. Not anymore. This has certainly been an EVENT. I can’t tell you how many people hit me up asking where the viewing party was at. Emphasis on party. As I watched Barack Obama speak, I was still reeling from sangria and ‘ritas. Still, the alcohol didn’t cloud my hearing/understanding. I listened and was in awe. I was struck by the gravity of the moment. So many times you hear older people talk about American and Global milestones. This is ours. I’m trying to soak it all in, not just because I am personally interested in politics and personally invested in the course this country will take, but because I feel it is my responsibility to live in the moment for my children and grandchildren. Live this moment for those who came before me, allowing me to witness such an event.

Lightskinned is back, but hell, BLACK is back. We got our swagger back, yall. Obama is stirring up pride and patriotism within us all, something we haven’t collectively felt in a very long time. And Michelle Obama… wow. She is inspiring Black women from coast to coast. We are in awe of her composure, beauty, strength and ability to be a powerful woman while standing by her husband’s side.

Just knowing that so many people were watching the same thing, hearing the same words I was watching and hearing tonight was a good feeling. When I got home, the speech had already started and I could hear my downstairs neighbors’ television blaring that familiar Obama voice. As I put my key into the door, I smiled a bit. I think my neighbors are crazy and weird beyond weird, but for a moment I felt a little bit of kinship. They might be freaks, but they’ve got their heads on straight when it comes to political priorities. Oh, check the text of Obama’s speech here, swiped from Ta-Nehisi.

I don’t know what the Republicans are going to do with their convention, but I’m sure it will fall short. Severlely. I certainly won’t be watching. I don’t want to be bored out of my mind or inflamed to the point of rioting in the streets. I’ll just catch the pertinent points from the various political blogs I check. I’m really just mad they went and commandeered the elephant as their symbol. How can I love the elephant as a symbol so much, yet hate it when associated with the Repubs?

So call up Al B. Sure! Call Christopher Williams. Tell Chris Brown to stop huggin up on Rhianna and get out there. The time is right to trade on this lightskinned business Obama’s stirred up.
Hopefully upwardly mobile Black men will start looking for Michelle’s to make their partners. See, Obama’s having such a positive influence already!

Live in the moment, y’all.

Truthfully, I was watching and thinking, “Man, Barack is foine, yo.” To be certain, he’s not the type of man I would normally characterize as “foine”, even though he is good looking. I think it’s the same kind of thing when people from Uzbekistan go see Michael Jackson perform and start crying hysterically, being carried out of stadiums on stretchers. Well, maybe not so much, but you get me.