Observation From Last Night’s Election

No matter what your political views are, you have to appreciate the significance of what happened last night. In a country where African Americans have experienced at least two centuries of varying degrees of mistreatment, having an African American attain America’s highest political office is a hugely significant event. What brought this home for me were two scenes that were shown after Obama had finished his post-election speech. One was a shot of Oprah and one was a shot of Jesse Jackson; both had tears streaming down their cheeks. I found myself getting all choked-up. Not because I’m particularly fond of either of them or have an emotional connection to them, but because their tears seemed to be tangible evidence that something big was going on behind the scenes, namely, healing. I had the same reaction this summer when I was working in the backyard and overheard Harper’s public apology to the First Nations Peoples for the whole Residential Schools affair. Neither Harper’s apology nor Obama’s win signaled an end to First Nations or African American issues, but I do think that they accomplished something of nearly seismic proportions: they made it possible for the respective issues to move to the next stage in the resolution and healing process. Perhaps they signaled the beginning of the end of these issues.