a black man in the white house

yes they did, yes we did... and i'm still in shock

i have been up since 515am delhi time watching, flipping between channels (thank you anita for that wake up call!). biting my fingers, trembling, crying, screaming, in shock, proud, grateful to be alive to see this day, grateful for all those who have come before to pave the way for this day to even just be possible, speachless. mom called (she told me she had plenty of calling cards in hand to last as long as it would take to declare him the winner) and we tried to watch the same channel over the phone together but gave up and decided to talk after the acceptance speech. during those 5 hours or so, sitting alone in the living room of my soon to be ex-home in south delhi, i felt so connected, so united with what i was watching. everything i was feeling i could see in the faces of those waiting for the results or interviewed, in churches, times square, grant park, harlem, and the several expat get togethers across india.

i felt swept in this wave of yes we can, of believing that everything is possible, feeling like i and other individuals like me could actually make a difference, but at the same time so in shock that this was actually happening because i still couldn't believe that it could be... that the US could actually elect a black man to represent them and to lead them. and then it was official, california tipped the count over 270 and the race was over. and the shock is still with me so many hours later.

the voting rights act was passed in 1965, and as a result, just within a few months a quarter of a million new black voters were registered. within 4 years the south doubled its number of registered voters overall. and a little over 40 years later, as a result of this race, of this candidate and this campaign, we had a surge in registration of new voters, especially those 18-24 years of age, and the highest voter turn out in all of US history. and over 70% of new voters voted for obama. people actually started to care again, they felt their vote actually mattered. and in a country where the last two elections have been a disgrace to democracy, that says A LOT! people actually felt like they mattered. they weren't a blue state (so why bother voting), or a red state (so why bother voting). they were people... with a lot at stake... and something to do about it! and obama wasn't color blind assuming red can only be red. he spent 70% of his budget, a very large budget, on reaching out to people in traditionally republican states!

when i spoke to my mother i understood just how far my own family had come in a generation. following up on what i wrote yesterday, there is this black-brown divide that exists in the US, as in elsewhere except that in the US EVERYONE is or came from an immigrant except for the native americans. so in an effort to feel better, higher, more important, more valid then someone else, in a system which often leaves you feeling disempowered if you are a racial or ethnic minority, brown skin folk tend to put themselves above black skinned folk. that is to say, since the whites look down on browns, they in turn look down on someone (lest they be at the bottom), so they look down on blacks. (btw, you see the same violence happen with domestic abuse, dad hits mom, mom hits kids, kid abuses the younger kid, youngest kid abuses the pet or kids in school.) this type of racism is very common within the latino communities in the US, as well as back in their own countries.

this explains the hidden racism i described in yesterday's blog, which my mother felt when i told her i was dating a black man. when she said "stick to your own kind" she meant either date brown, or at least move up and date white... but don't move down for god's sake! out of her love for me she worked through that and it's been a non issue since i was a teenager. her sisters however, have not followed suit... perhaps because they didn't have to, they weren't confronted with their child dating a black person. nevertheless, both of my aunts were encouraged, and convinced, to go vote by their sons today... being told specifically that they should vote their conscious not their racism. in fact, according to statistics from across the nation, the brown-black divide narrowed today, and the majority of registered hispanic voters voted for obama.

i honestly don't think i have ever felt prouder to be an american then i do today. a bit more than a decade ago i used to remind those who would bash the US with wide brush strokes that "only in america", as they say, are there so many opportunities for people to really move up the ladder. i gave myself as an example. in how many countries in the world (certainly not only the US but also not many) can a woman with a third grade education, who immigrates as a nanny, end up being the owner of her own business? in how many countries can the daughter of two immigrants, neither of whom even made it to high school, end up a fullbright scholar, get two masters from an ivy league school, and work as a diplomat for the UN? as obama has reminded us numerous times, only in the US is his story, my story, my mother's story, and so many others' stories, even possible! and today, i remember that feeling which i lost a decade ago somewhere along the way... not in my mind, but in my heart, in my being. i am so grateful to the US for the opportunities it has given me... including the intellectual capacity and the freedom to critique it. (yes noah, i am willing to come back now)

and i must say, a few of my indian and european friends have shared with me that they too were glued to their tvs, especially for his speech, and that they felt excited, cried, got goosebumps, were full of joy and hope, etc. and they are shocked because they aren't american. this is a historic event, not only for african americans. as exemplified by jesse jackson weeping while he waited for obama to come and make his speech; he who had marched along martin luther king in the civil rights movement, and who unsuccessfully ran for president twice in the 1980s, looked to me like he was saying inside "way to go kid, you did what we have only dreamed of." and as oprah said in one of her comments, we don't have to only dream anymore. i don't think it's too dramatic to say that today redefines how americans see themselves, and how the world sees americans.

now i gotta go and get in the shower and go to the US embassy restaurant for burgers and fries, and then on to a celebration organized by the democrats abroad at a local club. to get into the us embassy complex, where the restaurant is, you have to be a member of the restaurant, or be with someone who is. i'm not one but a couple of friends are. and as i was coordinating who i would have to call to be accompanied in, i realized that right now, this moment, i feel that i look more american than ever before. the question of where am i from is most often followed by white americans asking "but where are your parents from" or "but what's your ethnic background?" and from non-americans "but were you born there?" (as if any woman who gives birth in a US hospital gets a baby in return who is blond and blue eyed no matter what!)... basically both let me know that i don't "look" american to them, so am i really american? well, today, these questions don't apply as much any more... to me and so many others. and i'm surprised at myself, of how much it makes a difference, an immediate difference, to see someone who looks more like me then not like me, representing the country i am from.

now lets see what happens with the segregation in the barber shops and sunday mornings. btw, mom's shop is not in some rural area, or even the suburbs... it's on K street, a few blocks away from the white house, and her customers include members of the bush administration, including a cabinet secretary (which is like a minister or head of a department) and strategists and speech writers, etc., world bank and regional bank employees, and tons of lawyers. so lets see what reactions are shared there now... next to the "other" (black) barber chair.

filled with joy and gratitude and awe!!!

thank you for reading! go celebrate!!!!