On the path to change

Yesterday we elected the 44th president of the United States. Elections are always exciting. Will your candidate win? How close will it be? What weird thing will CNN do? [Holograms? Who would've guessed?]

But this election had even more historical importance than other elections in my lifetime. Up until yesterday we have always elected old, white guys. Yesterday, I voted for Barack Obama, not because he’s a black man, but because of what I believe he will do for the American people. But the fact of the matter is, he is a black man. The very first black man to be elected president. America is starting to look past color and just evaluate people based on their personalities and traits. And that’s an amazing thing. It gives me hope that my children will grow up in a society that embraces diversity and uniqueness.

In his acceptance speech Obama talked about change. He was mostly referring to the change that is going to happen in the next four years as he leads us out of these hard times, but he also touched on the changes we’ve seen in America in the last 100 years.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

Change is hard for Americans. We are set in our ways and scared to death of the unknown. But I have faith that we will get there. Eventually. And this election has proved that we are on that path.

But as America gets passed one prejudice, we still faced another as several states passed laws to ban gay marriage or stop gay couples from adopting. Arizona and Florida voted to ban gay marriage. And Arkansas voted to ban gay adoptions. But I’m most sad about California. They not only voted to discriminate against their own citizens, but they stole a right their citizens already had. It just breaks my heart.

But I still have faith. Eventually we will realize bigotry is bad. Eventually we will realize that every single person has the right to love and marriage. Eventually we will accept people for who they are instead of who they sleep with. Eventually.

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