On November 5th, 2008 my mother went to my dad’s grave and laid a wreath in celebration of Barack Obama’s victory the night before.
As I answered the phone that joyful morning a tearful voice greeted me on the other end,”I’ve just come from your dad’s grave,’ she sobbed, ” I told him the revolution we always talked about has finally taken place…”
With tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat I told my mom that I wish I had been with her to say a few words as well. What I would have said? I can honestly tell you I don’t know and that’s one of the reasons it has taken me this long to write this blog.
Words CANNOT and DO not do Obama’s election to the highest office in this land and arguably the world, justice.
How can they?
Words cannot adequately express the effect of 300 years of slavery and another 90+ years of segregation/Jim Crow on a people can they? And words cannot express what it means to me and countless others like me black or white to see a black man lead a nation that once classified black people as nothng more than cattle.
How can words….they are no words that adequately express that triumphant feeling in my mother’s heart as she spoke those words at my father’s grave that morning just as they are no procedures that could bring my father back to life to witness that pivotal moment in Grant Park but on November 5th 2008, the revolution he always preached, longed and sometimes even begged for finally came I hope that he is finally, finally resting in peace.
