For years Afro-Americans were told they are equal in the land of the brave. Without a doubt, Obama´s election victory four years ago was the first major indication that the US was willing to turn it into reality. For the first time there was action and not just words.
The American political system cannot be change drastically, so with a republican or democrat in charge do not expect things to be much different in Washington. Take gun crimes for instance. We have seen some of the gruesome killings at schools in recent years and yet none of the parties is willing to do something about America’s loose restrictions on gun ownership. Partisan gridlock in Washington makes it hard to change the American laws set up by slave owners and farmers some centuries ago. It is a deep-rooted belief that if men make changes to the constitution it will be the end of the USA. When the government halfheartedly gave in to demands from civil right movements in the late 1960’s, instead of rewriting the laws that gave black people less to no right, they decided to add new laws to existing laws. So if I was allowed to vote I would not put my money on whoever is going to change the way things work in Washington. No, I would put my money on who will inspire and give light to the nation, especially the suffering blacks and poor across the country.
Not long ago it was unimaginable that my generation will see a black president on American soil. The tenants in the white house were whites. It was an unwritten rule, in a country where blacks only recently where seen as equal human beings; although they fought, in chains, side to side with George Washington and his pals. Prior to the phenomenal victory of Obama on November 4th, 2008, many young blacks used to believe that the American dream was not meant for them. They didn’t have the results to show it. They didn’t have the Steve Jobs, the Rockefellers, the Kennedys and the presidents. Any leader who looked like them were called a black leader, and not an American leader.
Images and the media have a big influence on us. We form ideas and opinions based on what we see on television and read in magazines. The presidency of Barack Obama inspired and energized black youths across the US to do better at school. It has given them hope and belief that they too can become one day the president of perhaps the most powerful nation on earth, if they work hard for it. The children who were 4 to 6 when Obama came into office are now at the age of 8 to 10. Their version of their country is much different than the generation before them. In the past four years they have visited malls and formal events to see a president who looks like them. Something their parents and the generations before them were not fortunate to see; in real life or on television.
I am confident that Obama’s presidency has inspired a lot of whites to look at blacks in different light and blacks to look at themselves in different light. This momentum should continue. Obama should get the chance to finish the Job. So I say, four more years of inspiration.