A Much Needed Conversation

Greetings!

I had a whole other topic in mind today, but I believe that it, along with a whole lot of things I dare to write about will make its way to the stage when it is supposed to.

I need to take a groupie moment out to applaud Senator Obama.

At 12:30p when I was driving yesterday, and tuned into Warren Ballantine to get his listeners’ reaction to Senator Obama’s much anticipated speech about his former Pastor.

As Ballantine spoke, you heard The Theme from Shaft!

That’s right – Obama is a Bad Mutha….. well you know the rest. You could almost see the pride that had welled up in everyone who called. Many went out on a limb and called Senator the next President of the United States.

When I saw my mother, she was beaming – she said “Obama told them where it’s at…” That was really the only words I could get out of her because she was glued to CNN as they played snippets of the speech. Honestly the anchors could not stop talking about the historical nature of his presentation.

I had not heard the complete speech yet, but knew that whatever he did say was going to leave a lasting impression that was going to change the discussion about race relations in this country. This was the same guy who some say wanted to ignore race and was “not Black enough”. He skillfully maneuvered through many of the minefields his opponents have been trying to put in his way.

I went back to my office and watched the speech. I sat in awe on how he calmly revealed his personal experience with race, the way race has impacted this country and more importantly how we can move beyond race to for a “more perfect union”. He established a framework of how the injustices look from both sides of the fence and quickly pointed how in so many ways that we want the same things for ourselves and our loved ones. Knowing that he was able to so eloquently explain his position was humbling. I am forever changed by what I have seen and read. I expect that when Obama gets to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that he will use his strengths to assess situations and provide thoughtful resolution to many of the ills that face us ALL.

With that I wish you all the best today and always.

G