In Megan’s blog, she spoke about the new day created when we elected Obama as our next president. When he won, I was really happy and hopeful for the next 4-8 years. But it hadn’t really sunk in how monumental it is to elect a black president. I think for me I have just seen Obama as qualified--as a president we can be proud of, a well-composed man and someone that aligns with my political viewpoints. In my evaluation of him as a presidential candidate, his race never played a piece—even though it was a well-communicated element in the election.
Megan pointed out that Becca, my adorable niece, will never know a time before having a black president. Then the immensity of Obama’s win started to sink in. But it didn’t fully hit me until I went to St. Louis for work. I was there visiting some of my company’s charter schools to see EdisonLearning education in action (great experience for me overall, BTW). The four schools I saw are all about 95% black. Quite a different scenario than any school I ever went to or have even visited—actually pretty much the exact opposite.
I arrived on November 5th, the first full day we knew Obama would be our next president. Bulletin boards littered the hallways with information about the election. Many were displaying pictures kids drew, or sentences they wrote with their thoughts about the election. Some showed bar graphs, pie charts, etc. of who the students wanted to win. Others said why they would vote for Obama (cute to see what kids say or think is most important). I think everything I saw was supporting Obama. In the entrance to most the schools, the front page of the newspaper was hanging up to announce the election results. Election information was everywhere!
First, it is just awesome that kids get to learn about the political system in America and for many, this is the first election they will ever remember…and what a good one to have in their memory banks!
Second, it was really neat to see how proud and supportive kids and staff were of Obama. In these St. Louis schools he has quite the fan base! Now when these kids say they want to grow up to be president, they know it really can happen.
Now I wonder when we will elect a female president…
2 comments:
I think I came at Obama from the other direction. I first saw him as an African American man. I quickly came to see him as a man of considerable wisdom, seemingly more than his years. Today, along with a nation I look to him (and trust him) to share and communicate a vision of what America can be, to bring wisdom and humility humility to his planning and decision making, to be a role model and to lead us forward. Today watching Obama and Michele at the White House I realized right then I did not see color. I know color is important to a many people right now, I also think Obama's presidency has the power to transcend color and the next time we will not even consider the color of the candidates skin only the content of his or her character. I know it must have felt awesome being in the St. Louis schools the day after the election. Thanks for sharing.
I am glad I could inspire you to write on this topic too. I did not really process the significance of Obama being black until election night. I remember when I first heard of Obama, before he ran for president, Mom introduced him as a "black senator from Illinois". And he discusses race and how it affected his life in both his books, so I was very aware of the issue, but until I saw then news coverage and heard interviews with African Americans in line to vote and then waiting for the results, did it hit me. And it hit me hard- It is really exciting to have an Obama Presidency, on many fronts.
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