I’m not denying that this is one of the most unbelievable moments in African-American history (as John McCain pointed out in his concession speech).  And I’m not denying that it’s an unbelievable moment for all Americans and for the entire world.  By “this” I, of course, am speaking of electing our first African-American President.  I agree with with both of these above mentioned statements–this is an unbelievable moment.  At the same time, I don’t want to forget that President-Elect Obama didn’t want this to be about race.  This has always been about the issues facing the American people.  After Obama was announced the winner, all talk on the network television stations was about race.  Much of what I heard was that America has come so far in terms of race (this I also agree with), but one of the comments that resonated the most with me came from Tavis Smiley (host of his own show on PBS and a guest on NBC for election night) who said that just because we’ve elected an African-American as President it doesn’t mean that we as Americans have dealt with the issue of race that is still present in the U.S.  The fact that race was even a reason some has to vote for or against a candidate is evidence enough to me that racism sill rears its ugly head here in America.

While I wish race wasn’t an issue, I would be crazy if I thought it couldn’t be at this time in history.  As I said before, I agree that this is a monumentous racial moment in human history.  I just agree with Smiley when he says that we have a long way to go–this is a huge step in the right direction–before the issue of race has really been dealt with.

This was a race about issues facing the American people.  Is race one of the issues? Yes.  Has it been solved? No.

I’m watching President Obama’s acceptance speech as I type this and I’ve never felt more hopeful and inspired by American politics–for once, I aspire to be like the President.  Barack Obama made this country wake up to what’s been going on and has taught us that we shouldn’t and don’t have to sit idlly by.  This was a race between hope and fear and it was clear that the time of fear is past.  A new time of progress and understanding is beginning.  This is merely the first step because there are many things that will not fix themseleves just becuase of the outcome of this election.  It’s hard for me to focus on writing this post right now so I’ll have to come back with some more of my thoughts in the next few days.  I’m just really happy right now.

11.04.2008, originally uploaded by hills,.

It didn’t take too long for me to move through the voting lines, maybe a half hour. There were a lot of people and the line for my district (4th) was a lot shorter than many of the other lines. I overheard some people saying that they’ve never seen it as crowded at past elections–usually there are just two or three people in front of them when they arrive. Everyone was helpful and respectful. Overall, a rather pleasant voting experience.

One complaint is that it was not very clear that there was an amendment up for vote. I didn’t learn about it until after and I was speaking with someone else who had just voted. Apparently, it’s to the right of the main voting board. I didn’t even see it–I was too focused on not screwing up my votes for offices.

Now it’s time to sit back and feel anxious. Alicia says I should clean the house. Maybe she’s right.