Overwhelmed

I am sitting here trying to take in all that I am witnessing via live TV. We have, finally, a president of color, a black man, a man who represents me, who resembles me, who I can identify with.

Yesterday, I briefly spoke with my best friend, who is a video and photo journalist in Baltimore, who also has white house clearance and was called upon by CNN to work this entire weekend, about what he felt, what he sees and hears...because his perspective is magnified through the lenses he uses...no filtering, just raw footage of real humans and real emotions. He proceeded to tell me about a couple he met, the husband white and wife black and the struggles they faced upon the beginnings of their love for one another because then, it was illegal for them to be together. And had it been reversed and he was black, he probably wouldn't have been here to tell his story.

Then, I spoke briefly to my mom, and listened for a moment of how she and her girlfriend was reminiscing about growing up in Alabama...how the day she was going to take her driving test, the instructor said prior to her even taking off, "Ain't no niggas gonna get no license here today!" And just even now, thinking of the years of struggle my dad has endured as being the only black guy, but never being able to quit because he had to work so that we could eat. But having to prove himself time over time to get to where he is so we could make it. And it seems like now, we all have made it...after the swearing in of our first black president.

It's truly uncanning to even begin to think how this will change America. How hearing stories of the guy I like had been called nigger by his teachers, or my best friend grew up in the racially divided southern state of NC, with dirt floors and rats and no general heating...and he is younger than me. How will we change? How will we move forward in this new day of new unprecedented times, that for the first time in 200 years, the "White's Only" sign has finally come down, from the White House as well as America.

What do we do with this day? There is no way that we can continue on the course we were on, of self-destruction, hate, racism, and division. I can't. This moment in History has changed my life forever, and I pray that the revision of history begins today. Let us tell the story that can never be silenced again! The history of the endurance of our parents, and forefathers. For me, it means taking it to the next level and no longer relying on the strength of our forefathers to just keep us keeping on...holding on...for the need of just barely making it has ceased, and we have been transitioned into a time where we will thrive, we will make it, we will do it.

I am truly overwhelmed.