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President Obama! - Reflections from the heart.
by Chemutai Glasheen , 11th November 2008
President Obama! Rais Obama, no matter how many times I say it, it still does not ring true. Some journey this has been. It seems only like yesterday when my interest in Obama was piqued. Flipping through TV channels, I first heard on CNN something about someone ‘whose dad was from Kenya and who might one day have the White House in his sights’. That caught my attention but not for very long. It was a while later when someone said to me,” A Luo has become a Senator in the US!” And so began my interest in Obama which grew into a full blown obsession. As I write this I know this is the story of many Kenyans and Africans and probably all black people. As I grapple for words I know I am in the company of countless vastly talented writers trying to put into words what an Obama win means. This is not a political take on the American elections or Obama’s meteoric rise to power. This is an attempt to verbalise an awakening that is deeply personal perhaps even spiritual.
This election has been electrifying. It has been as exciting as it has been a soul searching one. Many times I have lain awake asking myself just what it was that made me so interested in Obama, surely it was not just because we shared the same Kenyan roots? I have read just about every article written about him, watched every show, listened to his speeches so much so that my two year old can recognise ’Bama’. In my silent moments I have replayed chunks of his speeches in my head. From the powerful “what began as a whisper in Springfield has swelled to a chorus of millions calling for change... “ to the now famous speech turned musical ‘Yes we can’ and that no matter how many times I have heard Obama make his stump speech, each time he made it , it was like he was making it for the very first time.
Images of people at the Obama rallies have been so great to behold. My favourite would have to be looking at the face of older African Americans and seeing their faces either lit up in pure joy or overwhelmed to the point of the tears. I cannot get enough of these images. I would love to sit down with each of them and simply ask what the story behind each tear was. There has been such a great outpouring of emotions, emotions that span the decades and emotions that recall a history of great injustice and worthlessness. I have seen images of the very young who look up to Obama and probably see a future for themselves in him. There have been all these emotions to express but never the words to say them.
“Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States of America” These words spoken into my living room brought me to my knees, as I wept I watched thousands doing the same on TV. The euphoria, the joy, the pain, the awareness of having witnessed history was almost too much to bear. Yet in that moment I was profoundly made aware of the price that had to be paid for Barack to rise. It did not just happen! It took years of pain, suffering and the ultimate sacrifice of human lives of whom Martin Luther King was a part. As Obama took his exalted place before the entire world to declare himself president elect, I could not help but weep for the people on whose shoulders he stood that night. As he echoed the words that had been the mantra of his campaign yet again ‘Yes we can’, he invited us all to climb on his shoulders and reach for a new frontier. I know I got that invitation.
Slight of build Barack may be, but those shoulders must now bear the weight of the expectations of a people. We know those shoulders are strong alright, they have deflected every vile accusation, slander and falsity and he has come out golden. He has seized every opportunity afforded him and forged an unlikely path that left his more fancied opponents stunned with his simple message of hope. His is a story that will outlive living memory. In his unlikely candidature is tightly wrapped the history, the pain and struggles of the African American and the joy and exhilaration of having Barack stand so tall from amongst them. It is moments like this that I recognise the inter connectedness of mankind and how we must each do our bit to shoulder those who come after us. Our tears today may be what waters the dreams of our children.
I am not American, I am not a descendant of slaves and neither is Obama. But as we stand on this wondrous moment in history the dream of Martin Luther King Jr is fulfilled in him. The campaign has afforded me a deeply spiritual journey, one in which I sought to understand why Obama was such a compelling person and why I could not stop obsessing about him. His improbable rise to the pinnacle just gave our children permission to dream. The following inspiration has been floating around in the blogosphere and I do not know to whom to give credit but it sure helps make sense of history:
Rosa sat so Martin could walk, Martin walked so Barack could run, Barack ran so our children could soar!!!
And as far we Kenyans will always be concerned, Barack Obama is the greatest Kenyan to ever walk the earth.
Chemmy
