Today, I voted in what has already become a multi-facetedly historic election. I may be hyperbolizing a little bit, but it is historic in the respect that we have the very real potential of electing our first black president. What would be the social, political and cultural ramifications of Sen. Barack Obama's potential victory? Despite my cardinal fear of speculation, and getting my hopes up, I decided to explore this future.
I had a daydream, where little black boys and little black girls will have a pronounced role model to aspire to. In that dream, parents can truly preach the gospel of conviction to the mind's potential. In that dream, education will be a cornerstone of national values. Impressionable black youths will finally have options besides gangs, drugs and self-destruction. The foundation of blacks stereotypes of aggression, hopelessness and inferiority will be ended, and foreseeably broken. The past won't be so relenting, but the future will be as malleable as our imaginations. In that dream I can tell my kids of the merits of education and persistence. I can tell my grandkids about how I helped shape history when I was a few years beyond their tender age. The doorway will be officially open for all to have a seat in the executive office. And the cornerstones of social revolution will be made concrete.
And then I woke up, right where I was, merely hours after making my contribution to the democratic process, and I wondered, what is Obama dreaming of right now? Has he always maintained this vision of the future? Is that what drove him? Personally, I really hope so, but I'm really more interested in what we the people could be thinking about this as well.
Jesse Hilaire
Trinity '09
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