This is a very personal blog about what Barak's speech means to me. I came into this country in 1985, as a brown woman, one of those persons Barak referred to in his inauguration speech as the one who picked up their belongings and came to this country for "us", my children. As so, unlike the African American people who looked to this day from the perspective of the past, where they and their ancestors, survived intense discrimination, I look at it from the perspective of the future. I was lucky that my ancestors did not endure the segregation and slavery that will always cloud black heritage. But, as I said to my children, I voted in Texas for Barak, not because I think my vote will count, but because someday I can tell my grandchildren that I voted for the first black President of the United States. Sure I faced discrimination, so did my children. But we did not let that dampen us. We forged ahead and yes, we could. In today's America yes, we can, and so can everybody who is willing to work hard. And hopefully this message will spread not only in America but to the rest of the world as well. America, and particularly Texas-- in the 1980s and 1990s, you told us to not aim high, to stay below the radar of white America. We did not listen to you, and today You are better because of our defiance.
Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details
Showing posts with label Barak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barak. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Our First Black President
I have never been so proud to be an American as today.
During the 80s and 90s, raising kids in a predominantly white neighborhood of Tanglewood, and in River Oaks Baptist School in Houston, we had endured intense discrimination. Kids told my children that their parents told them not to be friends with them because they were not white. The teachers told them they would go to hell because they were not Christians. At River Oaks Baptist School, my daughter and son were placed in remedial classes, simply because they were not whites. The fact that they were Mensa members did not matter to the School. Our neighbors looked at us as though we did not belong there.
Slowly though (or fast if you consider it only 5-7 years) the neighborhood changed. There are more and more ethnic families there. I have an Iranian and Chinese neighbor. I see a lot of South American, Indian and different faces now. I placed my kids in Saint John's School, where they did not face any discrimination. They have moved on to Yale and Duke and did not let the River Oaks Baptist people brain wash them into thinking they cant.
That is why, I was in tears yesterday not only to see Barak win, but to see him get the votes from all segment of society and win by a huge majority. Only in America can you go from having separate bathroom and drinking fountains for black America to the President in 40 years. I am confident that finally having a President with a high IQ in the white house will improve our country. America has proved that we do not want Joe the unlicensed plumber simply because he was born in the US. We want the licensed experienced plumber, no matter what his race, religion, national origin, ethnicity or sexual orientation is.
As to McCain, we got the old McCain back yesterday during his concession speech. The McCain who could reach out to Ted Kennedy for the McCain-Kennedy Immigration bill, the McCain who would speak the truth no matter what. That McCain had disappeared during the Campaign. Ambition propelled him to appease the Conservative Right Wing base, got him to elect Sarah Palin with no forethought that she would be running the country if he should die, the McCain who unabashedly approved false and defamatory commercials against Barak. Had the republican party ran on issues rather than negative campaign, they would have had a much better fighting chance.
My daughter, a Literature major from Yale, likened McCain's power grab to that of Macbeth. A good man turned bad from the ambition to become King. Yes, the Republican campaign can be said to be a "tale told by an idiot---full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Hopefully the thunder, lighting and rain that has engulfed our country will dissipate as order returns.
And as for Sarah Palin, I do hope that she has menopause before she can pop out another Down Syndrome baby on this earth.
Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details
During the 80s and 90s, raising kids in a predominantly white neighborhood of Tanglewood, and in River Oaks Baptist School in Houston, we had endured intense discrimination. Kids told my children that their parents told them not to be friends with them because they were not white. The teachers told them they would go to hell because they were not Christians. At River Oaks Baptist School, my daughter and son were placed in remedial classes, simply because they were not whites. The fact that they were Mensa members did not matter to the School. Our neighbors looked at us as though we did not belong there.
Slowly though (or fast if you consider it only 5-7 years) the neighborhood changed. There are more and more ethnic families there. I have an Iranian and Chinese neighbor. I see a lot of South American, Indian and different faces now. I placed my kids in Saint John's School, where they did not face any discrimination. They have moved on to Yale and Duke and did not let the River Oaks Baptist people brain wash them into thinking they cant.
That is why, I was in tears yesterday not only to see Barak win, but to see him get the votes from all segment of society and win by a huge majority. Only in America can you go from having separate bathroom and drinking fountains for black America to the President in 40 years. I am confident that finally having a President with a high IQ in the white house will improve our country. America has proved that we do not want Joe the unlicensed plumber simply because he was born in the US. We want the licensed experienced plumber, no matter what his race, religion, national origin, ethnicity or sexual orientation is.
As to McCain, we got the old McCain back yesterday during his concession speech. The McCain who could reach out to Ted Kennedy for the McCain-Kennedy Immigration bill, the McCain who would speak the truth no matter what. That McCain had disappeared during the Campaign. Ambition propelled him to appease the Conservative Right Wing base, got him to elect Sarah Palin with no forethought that she would be running the country if he should die, the McCain who unabashedly approved false and defamatory commercials against Barak. Had the republican party ran on issues rather than negative campaign, they would have had a much better fighting chance.
My daughter, a Literature major from Yale, likened McCain's power grab to that of Macbeth. A good man turned bad from the ambition to become King. Yes, the Republican campaign can be said to be a "tale told by an idiot---full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Hopefully the thunder, lighting and rain that has engulfed our country will dissipate as order returns.
And as for Sarah Palin, I do hope that she has menopause before she can pop out another Down Syndrome baby on this earth.
Contact Houston Immigration Lawyer, Annie Banerjee for more details
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)