OFF-TOPIC: NEW DAY

I am, so full right now guys.

I've just allowed myself to take a breath and fully realize the magnitude of the past 24 hours...

My mother sharecropped, had to purchase items from the back, used colored fountains.
She did this less than fifty years ago. My mom remembers the threats, the openly-proud hatred for black folks.

She told me last night, that she was so glad I could be here for her, representing the just how far we've come, in less than a generation. She said, it took us getting to the point of such desperation, to look beyond our prejudices for the exceptional human being we need for our country, right now. We finally had the courage to give ourselves what we deserve.

She was at the March in '63. It's so humbling that I had the privilege of being there for this, to carry it on.

The current Nation cover was what made it finally snap fully into place for me, specifically the young people in front of President Obama. That's Emmett Till, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins.

We've gone from brutally murdering children for simply existing with dark skin, to electing a black man as president.

I'd been afraid to fully feel this, lest I REALLY feel it, but that realization forced it out of me and I had a good cry.

I am a natural optimist, people. Life has made me cautious in that optimism and even cynical at times.

...But moments like this?

Cynicism, even of the healthy variety doesn't enter into it. This is just so far beyond it. Hope is more than just a slogan, people.

The first black president is actually the right man, at the right time. It would not have happened any other way. Even this fact can't lay a fingernail on this moment.

I am grateful, I am hopeful, I am proud.

I can't wait for the future.