Inauguration Day
Yesterday, Will.i.am was on NPR to talk about his performance at the HBO inaugural special and, of course, was asked about his song, "Yes We Can." And I collapsed into a heap.
Music is one of those things that I love because you can find a song, a movement or an aria that describes any moment in time you want to keep tucked away in your memory for the rest of time. This song, "Yes We Can" is so much more than any of that, put together. While it got criticized at the time for being cultish and creepy, I think it will stand as a testament and a way for America's upcoming generations to remember a president who made history.
Almost two years ago, Barack Obama stood on the steps of the Illinois state capitol and announced his run for the presidential nomination. At that moment, I wondered if I should take part in the ensuing madness. It took me the entire spring, summer and by the end of the fall, I'd decided to join up with the Obama campaign here in Nevada for the January caucus.
It's been 364 days since the culmination of my volunteering for the event.
Technically, we lost on that day. But, as the math was done in some secret room in Las Vegas and the apportionment rule was applied, the Obama campaign had won enough in the rurals and in Reno to gain one more seat than Hilary Clinton in the Democratic convention delegation. The city erupted with the news and on the Obama Web site, the state of Nevada was lit in his corner.
Since October of 2007, I've dedicated every spare moment to campaign for the now president-elect. I know I may sound a little crazy from time to time and can come off as utterly humorless, but that's the attitude it took to endure phone calls, door slams and outright attacks from people who weren't afraid to say the word, "nigger" to me or to assume the rumors that he was REALLY A MUSLIM. It took a militant attitude to stop from breaking down into a heap or flying into a rage.
And now, with Inauguration Day coming upon the country, I find myself collapsing into a heap anytime I hear the Will.i.am song or listening to clips of speeches made by Obama.
I do this because I am overwhelmed.
Four years ago, eight years ago, there was a sense of doom about George W. Bush and the Neocons of the Republican Party and what they would do to this country. And we've all seen the fruit of their work, rotten and moldy, pulling this country down with every bud that's opened. It was outright hopelessness.
And then, some kid from Illinois with a funny name and big ears tells us to believe in hope and change. We decided that his intelligence was so vast that, hey, the worst that happens is that we gave it a shot and looked like fools, right? And then, a funny thing happened, we built a movement, we engaged people in genuine political discussion instead of the Limbaugh- or Franken-reinforced claptrap and we changed some minds. And then ... we won.
We came all the way from February 10, 2007 to January 20, 2009 and I can't contain my feelings of joy and excitement and every feeling derived and combined from those two. So I end up tearing up and being amazed at what this country accomplished in my lifetime and what it can continue to accomplish in my lifetime, so long as we continue to care about things the way we cared about the presidential election of 2008.
During the caucus season here in Nevada, my field organizer David Zhao was talking to me on an excursion to some fast-food joint for dinner. He asked me why I was involved and I gave him my story and I asked him. He replied, simply, "for Inauguration Day, can you imagine that day?."
And now, we're almost there.
And I can't imagine it, no matter how much I may want to, because I can only think of all the doors knocked, all the miles walked, all the hours of travel, all the people I've met and all the memories I've made and I realize that was the aim of this campaign and this president: for us to know each other and care about one another and come together to restore America.
Music is one of those things that I love because you can find a song, a movement or an aria that describes any moment in time you want to keep tucked away in your memory for the rest of time. This song, "Yes We Can" is so much more than any of that, put together. While it got criticized at the time for being cultish and creepy, I think it will stand as a testament and a way for America's upcoming generations to remember a president who made history.
Almost two years ago, Barack Obama stood on the steps of the Illinois state capitol and announced his run for the presidential nomination. At that moment, I wondered if I should take part in the ensuing madness. It took me the entire spring, summer and by the end of the fall, I'd decided to join up with the Obama campaign here in Nevada for the January caucus.
It's been 364 days since the culmination of my volunteering for the event.
Technically, we lost on that day. But, as the math was done in some secret room in Las Vegas and the apportionment rule was applied, the Obama campaign had won enough in the rurals and in Reno to gain one more seat than Hilary Clinton in the Democratic convention delegation. The city erupted with the news and on the Obama Web site, the state of Nevada was lit in his corner.
Since October of 2007, I've dedicated every spare moment to campaign for the now president-elect. I know I may sound a little crazy from time to time and can come off as utterly humorless, but that's the attitude it took to endure phone calls, door slams and outright attacks from people who weren't afraid to say the word, "nigger" to me or to assume the rumors that he was REALLY A MUSLIM. It took a militant attitude to stop from breaking down into a heap or flying into a rage.
And now, with Inauguration Day coming upon the country, I find myself collapsing into a heap anytime I hear the Will.i.am song or listening to clips of speeches made by Obama.
I do this because I am overwhelmed.
Four years ago, eight years ago, there was a sense of doom about George W. Bush and the Neocons of the Republican Party and what they would do to this country. And we've all seen the fruit of their work, rotten and moldy, pulling this country down with every bud that's opened. It was outright hopelessness.
And then, some kid from Illinois with a funny name and big ears tells us to believe in hope and change. We decided that his intelligence was so vast that, hey, the worst that happens is that we gave it a shot and looked like fools, right? And then, a funny thing happened, we built a movement, we engaged people in genuine political discussion instead of the Limbaugh- or Franken-reinforced claptrap and we changed some minds. And then ... we won.
We came all the way from February 10, 2007 to January 20, 2009 and I can't contain my feelings of joy and excitement and every feeling derived and combined from those two. So I end up tearing up and being amazed at what this country accomplished in my lifetime and what it can continue to accomplish in my lifetime, so long as we continue to care about things the way we cared about the presidential election of 2008.
During the caucus season here in Nevada, my field organizer David Zhao was talking to me on an excursion to some fast-food joint for dinner. He asked me why I was involved and I gave him my story and I asked him. He replied, simply, "for Inauguration Day, can you imagine that day?."
And now, we're almost there.
And I can't imagine it, no matter how much I may want to, because I can only think of all the doors knocked, all the miles walked, all the hours of travel, all the people I've met and all the memories I've made and I realize that was the aim of this campaign and this president: for us to know each other and care about one another and come together to restore America.