"America, surprise us/And let a black man guide us" - Nas

Wow. It's very hard to know what to say at a time like this. I'm happy and hopeful, scared and cynical, all at the same time. Barrack Obama will be the first African American president in history.

As Ice Cube so eloquently put it, "Some of our folks used to hang from ropes." In less than 80 years we've gone from this:


To this:


Before I let my cynical nature take over (and it will, in the next few days), I just want to let this sink in. Regardless of his inexperience (see, it's creeping in already), Obama has energized the political process and engaged the younger generation in a way that no politician has in my lifetime (and arguably since John F. Kennedy).

If he achieves nothing more than encouraging African Americans specifically, and disenfranchised minorities generally, to get involved in politics because they can relate to this president much more than any of his predecessors, he will have performed an incredible service.

It's exciting to think that the biggest criticism I can think of right now is the fact that, when you expose Obama's relative inexperience, all you are left with is hope.

It's very affirming to have hope as a worst-case-scenario.

......... Actually, I've decided that this post is far too serious and earnest in tone, so I've included one more pic