Urban Thought Collective

OBAMA WINS!! Somebody Stop Me

November 4th, 2008 at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time Sen. Barack Obama took the lead in the Electoral College and never looked back. With a “righteous wind at his back” Sen. Obama won The Presidency of the United States in a landslide victory and made history. There were tears and cheers!

WE DID IT! Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, men, women, young and old. In other words, AMERICA DID IT!

I was born in Chicago. My sister, niece and nephew were in Grant Park and saw President Elect Obama live. My nephew kept ocalling me on his cell phone for updates on the status of swing states, as I watched on television and the internet. He’s 16 years old. When I was 16, there was no internet, or cell phones and cable television was in its infancy. My 89 year old Grandmother cast her ballot this morning and told me about the first time she voted for President. It was for our 32nd President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Then she told me her mother, my Great Grandmother, didn’t vote for the first time until we moved her from Fort Smith Arkansas to Chicago, when she was in her 90’s. During the early 1900’s in Fort Smith Arkansas, my Great Grandparents were subjected to a pole tax they couldn’t afford, and were precluded from voting. My Great Grandmother, who was 100 when she passed away, told me many stories. She never told me that. I cried while I screamed at the television because the sacrifices made by our ancestors made this day possible.

This isn’t the end. This is an opportunity for America to continue to become a more perfect union.

That’s why I need somebody to stop me. Stop me from celebrating too much. Stop me from using a victory so sweeping in its mandate to bludgeon those who opposed it. I don’t mean fair minded people with whom I simply disagree. There are lots of Republicans I can find common ground with on most issues. I’m talking about “the base”, also known as the lowest common denominator. The ones who were shouting “kill him”. The ones who knew Sen. Obama was a Christian and sent e-mails saying he was a Muslim and suggested all Muslims are terrorists. The ones who tried to say “the Bradley effect” was real. The ones who said he lost Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida in the primary, he couldn’t win the general election. The ones who kept saying Hilary voters wouldn’t vote for him. The ones who ran television ads in the final days with the “Change We Can Believe In” slogan altered to say “Hate We Can Believe in” and “Rage We Can Believe In” using Rev. Wright clips. The ones who kept saying he was close to Bill Ayers. The ones who called him a socialist and didn’t even know what it truly means to be a socialist. I want to gloat on all of “them” and all of their other low down, hateful, dishonest tactics.

I want to stand up on my high horse and tell them we have turned the page on “their” America. It’s ours now! You want to see what America really looks like? It was on display in Grant Park and Times Square. We have become a true melting pot that’s getting younger and smarter.

But I can’t.

If we want to change the world it can’t be just a slogan. It must be the new era of civility and cooperation. It must be The United States of America.

I was stopped by President Elect Barack Obama!!

WE DID IT!!

Let me get my remote!

Darryl Bell is an actor and Chicago native, best known for his role in classic TV series “A Different World” and Spike Lee’s “School Daze.” His unique television commentary is exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.