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Photo Courtesy of IowaPolitics.com

While I had no intention of letting such a monumental event as the election of Barak Obama go unaddressed on a blog for multicultural commentary like Sable Lit Reviews, as I watched the electoral votes stack against John McCain, I found myself at a total loss for words.

America was more concerned with their desire for change than with the ethnic-background or political tenure of the presidential candidates. While I did not feel the urge to dance, scream or cry, I felt an intense shower of pride wash over my stomach as an American and as an African American, I watched Barak Obama earn the highest political seat in America. I am practical to a fault and while I was very proud of our nation, I began to think about the journey that is ahead not just for Obama, but for all of us. It was a strong sense of “OK, you got the job, now what are you going to do with it?”  I have no doubt President Obama will do his best to bring about the change we seek, however, we cannot expect him to do it alone. Each of us has to make a commitment to change as well. Last night wasn’t about electing someone to make those changes for us, it was about electing the best person who can facilitate and manage the change we seek in a position to represent us–the people. While we can enjoy what President Obama, his campaign, his transition and his presidency means for the country, we must also be prepared to work together regardless of political persuasion to bring about the change we seek.

I personally learned from Obama’s candidacy and his ultimately winning the presidential status, is that each day brings its own challenges, but it is what we do every day that dictates our tomorrows. Each everyday action is accumulating to bring about a desired effect for our future. For President Obama it started with the societal committees, his first senate defeat, his eventual senate seat, and then his announcement to run for president, which ultimately led him to the highest seat in the office. We often see where people are in the here and now and think little of the work that got them there.  Yesterday’s historic evening, reminded me that each day builds my tomorrow and I can’t waste it wallowing in the past or fearing the future. By the time today arrives, what’s done is done and we have to keep looking to how tomorrow can be better. With these acknowledgements, for me, change has already begun. For that, my sincerest thanks, President Barak Obama.

photo courtesy of myjon

I love to hear the stories,

That my mama and daddy tell;

Sometimes, we’ll just sit a while,

And they’ll talk for a spell.

They’ve told me of how hard it was,

For them to get to vote;

They’d go down to the courthouse door,

And there would be a note;

“Out To Lunch” or “No One’s In,”

“Come Back Another Day,”

In all kinds of ways you wouldn’t believe,

They were turned away.

Even when they did get in,

There were more hurdles they had to cross;

They’d be asked to answer questions

That would put anyone at a loss,

“How many bubbles in a bar of soap?”

“How many pennies in that jar?”

How many raindrops to fill a barrel?”

“How many miles to a star?”

It seems almost incredulous

That this was how it was;

But, believe you me, no matter what,

I vote, now , just because.

Poet commentary:

With a presence that is all embracing, Dr. Maya Angelou has released to the world a volume of poetry and prose to the women she has adopted as daughters and to those who have claimed her as mother in Letter to My Daughter. Not unlike other works such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings or The Heart of a Woman, Dr. Angelou reveals to the women of the world, as Literary Publicist and EDC Creations CEO Ella Curry put it, in the rhythm of her poetry and the elegance of her prose”, an expression of numerous useful lessons in terms of the people she’s met, the places she’s travelled and the events of her life.

When Dr. Angelou met with Curry on September 11th, 2008, the seventh anniversary of a very scary and profound time in US history, it was to discuss the release of her new book Letter to My Daughter. What came out of that interview were the pure magic of spirit and a great appreciation of life’s experiences.

After speaking of friends long and recently passed, Curry, considering the political climate in which we find ourselves as a nation, asked Dr. Angelou about her own activist history. In the late 1950’s, Dr. Angelou was appointed by Dr. Martin Luther King to the position of northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Ever the storyteller, Dr. Angelou took us back to that time envisioning her as she was, tall, thin and with enormously billowing natural hair. Dr. Angelou goes on to tell of the experience, “A number of the people really, they were made really uncomfortable…people around the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in New York. One woman dropped a note in a column in the New York African American newspaper, The Amsterdam News. She wrote, “Who is this person who has come from the west coast with the savage hairdo? Don’t they have beauticians or at least barbers out there on the coast?’”  An anecdote like that is priceless and is only an example of many magical moments in Curry’s interview with Dr. Angelou.

Given the topic, Dr. Angelou moved on to describe the electricity of the time. She said, “It was heavy and so exciting because you’d have to be in his presence to sense the authority that Rev. King had.” When Curry asked if Angelou saw similarities with the buzz created around Democratic Presidential-nominee Barack Obama, she had this to say, “Yes, I sense some of that. Of course, Senator Obama [is living] in another time. He is very inclusive, which is a wonderful thing. At the same time when Rev. King first started, he was not inclusive, he wasn’t exclusive but it was only at the end of his life that he began to include openly.” She went on to illustrate the fact with King’s organization of the Poor People’s March, a march that was not about race as much as it was about the struggle of the poor, no matter what skin they might be in. Regarding Dr. King, she continued, “When he became that inclusive, he really became dangerous.”

Such insight from a woman who has lived in both periods is truly priceless. Dr. Angelou knows something about inclusiveness as she addresses Letter to My Daughter she writes, “You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish-speaking, Native American and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all.” Thank God she is as we are all eager to listen.

About Laura Major: Laura Major is a multicultural fiction author and freelance writer residing in the greater Phoenix area of Arizona. Her first novel, Mismatched was published by Amira Press in February of 2008. Laura also manages a multicultural website, Sable Lit Reviews.com, one of the few of its kind providing commentary on the multicultural impact of current events as well as multicultural book reviews.

       Earlier this year marked the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The recognition of this dark event in history is remembered amidst a series of potential political firsts. Both sides speak to the transformation King’s fight has created which brings us to this juncture. Only Rev. King had the foresight to believe that Blacks, Whites, men, women, young and old would be working toward a common good. In today’s political climate each category previously mentioned is represented in three candidates: Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain.

      Each of these candidates speaks to the influences of MLK and Ronald Reagan. Although political and social activism was marked by the assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers, not until MLK was gunned down and much later when The Gipper lost his senses, have we looked to resurrect a leader to carry on those values. Undeniably, every legacy is sustained in how it is remembered.

      Reagan is remembered for his tough stance on drugs and his conservative political theory. While MLK is remembered for his utopian view of society’s future where we as a people would be respected for our differences and united by our longer list of similarities.

      Getting there requires the honest education of society and all of its members, not a candy-coated education that makes history easier to swallow, but an unbiased history reflecting every participant’s strengths and weaknesses.

      I can recall the uneasiness in the eyes of my Caucasian high school social studies teacher when he spotted the Autobiography of Malcolm X on my desk. Or later, the curiosity of my Caucasian coworkers during a lunch break when I pulled out a book entitled Martin, Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare which compared and contrasted the doctrines of Dr. King and Malcolm X. Education is so powerful, that a search to educate oneself about his or her own culture and the contributions from members of that culture raises the eyebrow of the collective majority. Shouldn’t the minority just accept what is said about them and their culture by the white majority?

     If so, what this amounts to is a lot of rosy colored reflections about history and about some of our most respected leaders. It is easier to remember MLK for his eloquent speeches and his nonviolent protests. It’s interesting how the most referenced words of Dr. King come from his “I Have Dream” and his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speeches. Little reference is made about the disappointment MLK felt toward America for its involvement in the Vietnam War as expressed in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech. King’s nonviolent stance was not restricted to the black community’s response to racial oppression. King recognized the hypocrisy of fighting oppression and violence with more oppression and violence. No disappointment could exist where there was not once pride.

      King’s legacy, much like history, should not be picked apart and misquoted to suit the purpose for the moment. To carry on the vision is to understand the whole man behind that vision. Not doing so is to leave very little hope in sustaining a successor for the cause. Who would dare take the charge of the demigod we have created. One that is selfless and without flaws. No one could succeed by that standard. The history of one and his contributions must be remembered in its entirety in order to do the most good.