May the American Dream come true!

The people of the United States of America have just made history, by doing one of the simplest things on earth to cast a simple vote for a man called Barack Obama, simply agreeing to let him be their first ‘black’ president.

Literally this 47-year-old ‘black’ president-elect is no simple ‘black’. He is at least a little bit more than simple in terms of the ‘black and white’ makeup, still more so culturally. It is almost impossible to define him accurately except to say simply that he is a highly civilized modern man, who belongs to a very smart, courageous and confident kind, of course. And he is to be the supreme commander of the United States, the largest racial melting pot on the face of the globe.

Through this American presidency he will also be a de facto world political leader too, standing among many elder rulers of many nations, of all races and all types, all over the shrinking yet divided world.

Despite foreseen and unforeseen local and global difficulties waiting to deter and temper this young president and commander in chief, be he competent or not, his calling the White House home for at least four years is no doubt a significant change with profound meanings, especially for all those who either have difficulty yet to, or insist to refuse to acknowledge, or believe in racial equality.

When this ‘ black’ president-elect was born to his 100% ‘white’ mother, who studied anthropology, less than five decades ago, the ‘black’ citizens of this democratic nation were still struggling hard for genuine voting right. Now that boy with a dark skin has grown up to be elected the nation’s president, even a few years before he is to turn fifty. It could be as fast as a nation could change not by way of revolution.

And it is just as good as it could be that Obama is half ‘black’ and half ‘white’, and better still he does not have a single slave as forefather, so that no single ‘white’ racist could possibly embarrass this ‘black’ president by claiming that his ancestors once owned Obama’s. ‘White’ racists might not feel shameful for what their forefathers did with slavery, they might even feel proud instead.

Other than all kinds of challenging political and economical difficulties ahead, Obama will enjoy his presidency together with a mission to bridge the still existing racial gap. He as the president could be the most suitable one for trying to accomplish the impossible mission that Martin Luther King had once as a short-lived dream.

May this American Dream come as true as King wished soon!

By the way, some lines of the president-elect’s speech of triumph seem worth quoting:

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
“It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
“It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals, or a collection of red states and blue states, we are, and always will be the United States of America.
“It’s the answer that let those who’ve been told for so long, by so many to be cynical and fearful, and doubtful about what we can achieve, to put their hands on the arc of history and bend toward the hope of a better day.
“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because what we did on this date, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.”

“This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election, except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
“She was born just a generation past slavery, a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky, when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons: because she was a woman, and because of the color of her skin.
“And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America: the heartache and the hope, the struggle and the progress, the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
“At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot.
“Yes we can.
“When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose.
“Yes we can.”