what will be looked back upon in 20 years, 40 years, 100 years as being important will be that out of of a population in this country brought here under duress, held captive for 250 years by law, and another 150 by any means the dominant culture couldd think up…that the work carried out by harriet tubman, and w.e.b. dubois, and rosa parks, and martin luther king, jr, and innumerable others finally culminated in an advocate for the first time in the white house.

however, he is not solely an advocate for black americans. as proven by the voting numbers, he’s an advocate for other minority groups. he’s an advocate for young white voters. he’s an advocate for college educated voters, and non-college grads (like me). still, the significance in history, as people look back at this election will be mainly this. for the first time in our nation’s history…one founded on the phrase “…that all men are created equal”, a phrase never lived up to…we have a president who is not a white male.

i think people are gung ho because we believe he is a different leader than we’ve ever had. humility, understanding, quiet confidence. i have faith in him as my president. full faith. it’s not where my life’s faith lies, but as president, i am confident in him. but my tearful moments did not come in relief that GW would soon be gone (maybe had i thought about it). they came watching a room full of young african-american students from spellman college dropping to their knees, and rising up in cheers. they came in seeing jesse jackson’s tears…in the tears of black men and women whose faces crossed my tv screen. i don’t know your ethnicity, but i know dave, sarah, and i, along with the rest of the white people in this country will never know how it felt that night to know that for the first time, someone like us had won the presidency. we’ve always been represented…well. and continue to be. when barack leaves the senate, it will lose the only black senator on the floor. nonetheless, the hope and belief that rose up on tuesday night…that’s why this election will be important for the life of this nation and the rest of history.

Now we’ll see if people actually got what they voted for.