What does the election of Senator Obama mean?
This is the perspective of a person growing up as a minority in the United States. I do not address the fear that some people seem to have because of the results of the smoothly run election. I do not address my incomprehension of some statements that Senator Obama was elected because of his race. All that I address is a small part of what this election has meant to a portion of American society.
Growing up in the United States as a minority you are told that you that you can be anything that you want to be. You are told that nothing is out of your reach. You are told that any child can grow up to be President of the United States of America. And you believe it.
You believe that it is 100% possible. You also know that it won’t be you. It will not be anyone that you know. It will not be anyone that looks like you. It will not happen in your lifetime.
You can be the fastest runner in the world. All you have to do is wait until everyone breaks a leg. You can see the farthest, as long as everyone is blind. A black man can be elected President, if no one else runs for the office.
This is the reality of our parents. This is the reality with which they have raised us, the minority children of the United States.
During the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s it was not uncommon for White people to clutch their purse when they passed me on the street. People left the sidewalk, stepping into the mud, so that they would not have to walk next to me in my button down shirt. Random cars switched lanes and sped up trying to hit me, while old women aimed their cars at me while I was in the crosswalk, crossing with the light. This is what it meant to grow up as a minority in the United States, in the “liberal enlightened” portions of the country.
Then there was a shift. The children that grew up after the Civil Rights era came into power. These were children that were told that anything was possible by parents that thought they were lying.
People in their’ 40s have never known the legalization of Equal Rights. They do not know the fear of police dogs and tear gas. They do not know about the clubs of police officers inflicted for sitting down for a cup of coffee in the wrong restaurant.
What they know is that there is a dream. A dream of starting at the bottom and working your way up, of working hard and long for success. They know of striving for their goals in the face of prejudice. They know that most people are fair, and that nightmares of their parents are in the past.
Now they know that the dreams of their parents are the realities of today. They know that nothing is out of reach.
Growing up in the United States as a minority you are told that you that you can be anything that you want to be. You are told that nothing is out of your reach. You are told that any child can grow up to be President of the United States of America. And you believe it.
You believe that it is 100% possible. You also know that it won’t be you. It will not be anyone that you know. It will not be anyone that looks like you. It will not happen in your lifetime.
You can be the fastest runner in the world. All you have to do is wait until everyone breaks a leg. You can see the farthest, as long as everyone is blind. A black man can be elected President, if no one else runs for the office.
This is the reality of our parents. This is the reality with which they have raised us, the minority children of the United States.
During the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s it was not uncommon for White people to clutch their purse when they passed me on the street. People left the sidewalk, stepping into the mud, so that they would not have to walk next to me in my button down shirt. Random cars switched lanes and sped up trying to hit me, while old women aimed their cars at me while I was in the crosswalk, crossing with the light. This is what it meant to grow up as a minority in the United States, in the “liberal enlightened” portions of the country.
Then there was a shift. The children that grew up after the Civil Rights era came into power. These were children that were told that anything was possible by parents that thought they were lying.
People in their’ 40s have never known the legalization of Equal Rights. They do not know the fear of police dogs and tear gas. They do not know about the clubs of police officers inflicted for sitting down for a cup of coffee in the wrong restaurant.
What they know is that there is a dream. A dream of starting at the bottom and working your way up, of working hard and long for success. They know of striving for their goals in the face of prejudice. They know that most people are fair, and that nightmares of their parents are in the past.
Now they know that the dreams of their parents are the realities of today. They know that nothing is out of reach.