Happy Obama Day...

Everybody look around
Cause there's a reason to rejoice you see
Everybody come out
And let's commence to singing joyfully...

I woke up this morning, and I still hadn't cried. So many of my friends had.

I was stunned. I was numb.

I felt much the same way I had I felt when I saw the first images of New Orleans, my home, the morning after Hurricane Katrina. I had no words. I was totally shocked by what was happening in this country--then and now. I couldn't feel anything other than the shock. There were lots of things I felt I should be feeling. But those feelings did not come right away.

During the aftermath, I watched helplessly, like so many others, waiting for the anger, the sadness, the RAGE. And none of those things came. It was nearly a year before I shed a tear for my former home. The place that shaped so much of my identity. A wall that I never intended to erect went up. And was helpless against it. I was a person who always cried. Tears were always at my disposal. So were words. And now I had neither.

The wall, that it took me so long to climb over, simply moved last night. I was without words. I was under water. My friends, my family, my colleagues, they were going to expect me, Nina, the actress, playwright, public speaker, to say SOMETHING.

Something profound.

Everybody's glad,
because our silent fear and dread is gone
Freedom you see, has got our hearts
singing so joyfully...

Profound. My daughter's name means, "profound" in Yoruba. She was who I thought of first. My first born whohad such a profound impact on my life; shaped and changed me in so many ways.
I looked at my facebook page. All of my friends and colleagues were changing their status messages at lightining speed:

"Nathan is watching his mother, who escaped Jim Crow Mississippi, enjoy this moment, there are no words..."

"Tyee is a Black man...with a Black President"

"David is proud to be an American"

and so on...all appropriate. And seemingly immediate. I put up a message, after what seemed a long time to me:

"Nina is STUNNED! HE WOOOOONNNNN!!!!"

This, only after four stations had confirmed the electoral college. I couldn't take another heartbreak. I was underwater again. Slowly, something began to rise up in my spirit. I felt...like singing. I was grateful. I wanted to run into church and start praising!

Can't you feel a brand new day!
Can't you feel a brand new day!
Can't you feel a brand new day!
Can't you feel a brand new day!

Praise. My son's name. I thought about him next. He will be two in a matter of days. I thought about how he had caught our excitement and enthusiastically yelled everytime he appeared on the screen, "BAHHHK OBAHHHHMA!"

And this morning the tears finally fell. I didn't sob or weep, like so many people I knew seemed to be doing. But tears of joy fell. I awoke my daughter with the news, "Jinle, you have a new president."

"Who is it?"

"Barack Obama..."

"I knew he was going to win!"

My husband. His name means, "God has given" and "Faithful friend." He had a new lift in his spine as he walked, what we call, "swag." We watched with excitement as all the fathers brought their kids to daycare today--the same fathers we see everyday; but everyone of them with a little something different in their smile and in their walks...

Everybody wake up
Into the morning into happiness
Hello World!
It's like a different way of living now
And thank you world
We always knew that we'd be free somehow!

This is OUR moment. Yes, it is America's moment, and the world shares it with us. We couldn't have done it without all the white folks who voted for him...but I didn't want to hear all of that this morning as the commentators on the "mainstream" stations talked about the election. I didn't want to hear about how now maybe a woman could do it to. I didn't care about any of that, I didn't want people's comparisons and early criticisms, and suppositions about how hard it is going to be for President Elect Obama to transition into office. I wanted people to for once, let the moment be what it is--

WE HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT!!!

To quote Dr. Micheal Erik Dyson, "I don't want to transcend my Blackness, to do that is to deny who I am; I want to transcend your perception of what my Blackness means."

Let it be what it is just for today, just for this week. Let it be a victory. Let Black people be proud without drawing your conclusions and comparisons and trying to be involved in a way that you cannot--because it is not your history.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to be divisive or exclusionary. But sometimes, I just want to say, "Let us have this one, please!" Celebrate for the reasons you want to celebrate. You should. You earned it. You voted, your voice was heard. But don't try to make me celebrate for your reasons. I have my own. And I will honor, value and own them unashamedly. Let's let it be what it is for every person that is a part of this moment.

We will have four or more years to criticize his decisions, his policy, his stance, compare him to everything and everyone.

But just this once, let it be. Let's celebrate this moment for what it is. We will never have this moment again. Why should we rush to the next one? It IS important that he is Black. That is not an afterthought or a sidebar. It is a title heading.

I don't want to hear one more person tell me he's an incredible human being who worked hard and deserved to be here in this moment and he worked hard for it, blah blah blah. So were a lot of other presidents and politicians.

That is not what makes this significant. What makes this significant is the fact that the people of this country, for the first time in history, have given the ULTIMATE position of power and authority in this country to a Black man. That people have finally had the courage to say that this man can be my leader, not the leader who talks to the President for me, or represents me to the President, but that this man, can govern my country and represent it, be my face to the WORLD.

For those of us who are believers, we have yet another proof to justify our faith, "with God, all things are possible"

In harmony
and show the world that we've got liberty
Its such a change
for us to live so independently!

I wonder if the composers of The Wiz knew how prophetic their song was?

WE HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT!!!!

I know. But sometimes, you got to just shout it again! The new first family, simply by their presence, is causing a paradigm shift. My daughters will have young women, besides the ones on Disney and Nickelodeon, to look up to. Women of all walks of life, will emulate Michelle Obama; her style and grace. And I'm not talking fashion. For people who do no have pastors or community leaders in their everyday lives to emulate, they will now have a marriage that they can look to pattern themselves after. A real live one. To quote Jeff Johnson from Straight Talk on BET,

"Thank God that tonight has happened the way that it has...The shining black manhood that we saw is connected to a shining black womanhood, that is being what the Huxatibles and what Roc couldn’t do. It was making a black family gangsta and intellectual, focused and real,
loving and aggressive...The first family. Ladies and gentlmen, Barack Obama is President.
Thank you and good night."