One for the history books.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been fervently working their way through the campaign trail, trying to solidify their position as the Democratic presidential nominee. Well the dust has finally settled and after an already historic Democratic primary, it looks as if Barack Obama remains as the victor in what has proved to be a very long and arduous path to the Democratic nomination.
No matter your political affiliation, ideologies or preference in candidate, it's virtually impossible to look past just how meaningful this past primary race has been to American politics, the American people, and American history. I truthfully thought that if my generation would ever see minority presidential candidate it would be a long long time from now ... and I still felt like that was a bit of a pipe-dream. So I'm nothing short of appreciative to be part of a generation that is open-minded enough to even entertain the thought of an African-American, and a female having a serious shot at becoming the next president.
Not to be confused, we still have a long way to go in a lot of the issues and prejudices that plague our society today, and these issues will still be present whether it be McCain or Obama swearing in January 20, 2009. However, the significance of Obama and Clinton making it so far should give American's a sense of pride.
I am particularly proud of this moment because I grew up around civil rights leaders, and I know the tumultuous history of Civil Rights in America. My father was an activist and worked with Jesse Jackson, Kwesi Mfume, Al Sharpton, Joseph Lowery, and the late Hosea L. Williams among others. My father's 56th birthday would have been this past Tuesday (June 3), and it the importance of, specifically, Obama's milestone resonated with me because he fought so hard for the rights of not only blacks in America, but the rights of all people. So for me it's like being able to see the fruits of his labor, but not only his labor, but the labors of many others who have fought against injustices of a system that stacked the deck against them, from Paul Robeson to Martin Luther King Jr. to Huey P. Newton to Malcolm X, to Hosea L. Williams, just to name a few, a lot of blood, sweat and tears has been dedicated to ensure that the hardships that they faced, were not passed down to my generation and the generations thereafter.
A lot of people will say that the race or gender of a presidential candidate is nothing to be excited about, as it really doesn't speak to the persons ability to run the country. While this is 100% true, the fact of the matter is that a lot of people still look on the surface when it comes to who they're going to trust as the person to run the country, but as has been proven by Obama and Clinton, not as many people look at color or gender as much as we once used to. So I view this recent milestone, win or lose, as a step in the right direction, not just for blacks and women, but for all Americans.
I'm going to wrap this up, but I will say I'm excited to see Obama vs. McCain, I happen to like both candidates and am interested to hear both of their ideas for the future of the country, should be a good race overall. Let's just hope this race stays about the issues and not about how much mud the other person can throw at the other.