For the longest time, if not as long as 14 years I spent on this soil, I smiled. When each battleground state turned blue like a domino, when the waves of the evidence rose to not just hopes but overwhelming joys, that defining moment around 11:00pm on Nov. 4, 2008, I thought I witnessed one of the greatest miracle in my lifetime.
Obama said it eloquently, “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.”
Yes, I was a doubter until this night, I doubted there will ever be any embracement of true equality and cultural diversity in this country, I doubted if there’s any other way but the abusive interpretation of the word “democracy”, just to demonstrate the arrogance of wanting world dominance. The road from a believer of American Dream to a cynical and sometimes bitter doubter for me is the same road that many immigrants have traveled. The damage being done by this administration, the scar has left with most of the minority groups(majority groups, too, but at different levels) is painful, deep and without drastic uplifting moment like the night of Nov. 4, it will never be healed.
The mentality to undermine the non-white voices has never been displayed more perfectly in the Republican’s Campaign this time. Sarah Palin emphasizes the places she visited were “real” America and remembered the background chanting “U.S.A” in GOP’s convention? The message is strong and clear, if you’re not white and don’t live in a small town and don’t believe in sending troops to Iraq, then you’re not “real”, or worse, not “patriotic”.
This is the message unfortunately has been propagated constantly in my life. In a world that the “emerging” market is going to be the tortoise than the hare, in a world that strength comes from all walks of lives, in a world that skin color has no bearing of one’s character and dignity, I was reminded everyday, that I am not the mainstream, not real, not “U.S.A”.
But at that miraculous moment, I thought I saw the shackles and bondage around not only the African-Americans but people of all other cultural representation were opened. The spell has shamed our founding fathers has been broken, the disease of racism, some argued, may never be cured, but we know the stride we made at that night has been the leap to the moon.
When the stock market finally rallied hours before Obama’s press conference on this past Fri., a journalist attributed the rally to the “halo” above Obama. We, as a people, drew that halo together. With little voltage at each heart, together it grew into a powerful force of light. I thank all people who voted for him, and I will hear the humming voices from each one of them, ” yes we can!” for the years to come.
Tea with Teresa 