Well people of the world, we can all breath again, and be grateful that hard work and optimism has beaten fear and greed. But now is not the time to rest on our laurels. We have been given a do over and we can't f*#k it up this time. It's been a long time that I would call myself an American, or proud American for that that matter, but as I think back a few years when I saw our new president speaking at the 2004 DNC convention I knew I had to keep my eye on him. As a 36 year old black man growing up in this country I am one generation removed from the years of segregation. I remember my mother sitting me down to tell me of a time when she couldn't drink from any water fountain or when she had to sit in the balcony of a movie theatre for entertainment because of the color of her skin. I remember my parents putting in front of the television so that i could see Roots and they talked to me afterwards to explain how my ancestors were brought here as slaves and what that means today . From looking back to this I turn my head to look forward to some of the children that I have come across from teaching and I am realizing that they are now 2 to 3 generations from the sting of blatant racism and we must tell all of our young ones of a time when little johnny's best friend Tyrone couldn't come over because he was black so that they can appreciate the freedoms that we all share now. I say this to make mention that all of us are now in this together. Things are coming to past and unless we want our chickens to come home to roost (if i may pull a Malcolm X here) we cannot make a liar out President Obama. It is our responsibility to take it to the streets when it comes to health care, the economy, our natural resources and taking care of our planet. If we want our new leader to get some work done then we have to meet him half way. we have to control the big companies with our hard earned money and we want things to change if they want our business. we must invest in our smaller businesses and give them our patronage and keep our money on main street. We can do this America. Let's take our country back.
