This Is A Day I Will Never Forget

As I write this, I am supposed to be working, but am too emotional and too distracted. I stood proudly and patiently to vote today for two hours at a polling place in Lansing, Michigan, that has never seen a waiting line to vote. My husband Darnay, daughter Nicole, who is 23 and my son Chris, 19 (who voted for the first time) went with me to vote as a family.

We ran into old neighborhood friends and made a lot of new friends (you get to meet new people when you stand in line for two hours). To see really young people standing in line with really old people, willing to do what it takes to have their voices heard, was an amazing thing.

We were voters 127, 128, 129 and 130 at our polls. It must have been the look on my face, that made the poll-worker who took my ballot want to tell me, "I thought you might want to know what numbers you were." She's right. Tonight when the big numbers come in, I will keep remembering 127, 128, 129 and 130.It took all the self control I had, to not burst out in tears.

I have been so emotional, and have had some terrific access to aspects of the campaign, that I have cried the whole year. Last night I cried because Barack Obama's grandmother didn't live to see this moment. A month ago I cried at a rally to hear him say "I stand here because someone believed in me."

I know what he meant. Today, I voted for Barack Obama. I cast one vote, but it was for me, and all the family that came before me who could not even imagine a moment like this. It wasn't until I got home that I had another moment. Nicole came in the room and said, "Ma, we voted for the first black president." I haven't pulled myself off the floor yet.

I don't know what the real outcome will be tonight. We know that strange things happen in elections. But I do know that just as I remember a childhood working in campaigns, as I remember being at Ernie Pyle School when John Kennedy was shot, remembering when Robert Kennedy was shot, Martin Luther King. Today I look at my son and remember casting my first vote--for Jimmy Carter. This is a day I will never forget.

Whenever something amazing happens in my life I have to anchor myself in where it comes from. I whisper to myself something my grandfather used to tell me whenever I would roll my eyes at political talk, or whine about stuffing envelopes or going to yet another awful fish fry to raise money for some candidate. He'd say, "A high price has been paid for you to be here." Today, I look at my two adult-ish kids, here having their say at the polls, showing their IDs, looking back at me. No dogs and guns. No beatings. Just a fully realized moment that my ancestors paid for on ships, in cotton fields, and in boycotts.

Today is another momentous occasion in the Collier family. My first born is going to her first day at work at our local television station. She is going to be a news assistant. Tonight she will be working from 6 pm to 4 am posting election results. I couldn't resist saying to her for the thousandth time in her life, "A high price has been paid for you to go to that station tonight--to even be able to count votes for a black man." So if tonight, at that station, it turns out that she gets to say, "Barack Obama, President Elect," I home she also tells somebody tonight, "I know that a whole lot of people paid a very, very high price for me to be here."

Comments

[terramartom]

Faith, Hope and Love will always endure.

[suziq]

Fantastic post!! Voting as a family is such a profound experience I have trouble finding the words...

It's been only a week since the historical election, and I am still tearing up in complete wonderment and joy at the result. I, too, grew up in the 60's. For 40 years I have been continuosly bummed that our hopes for change kept hitting brick wall after brick wall! I have NEVER understood racism. I have no religous affiliation, but know that if everyone took the simple golden rule to heart the world would be in a much better place.

Now, most of America is finally in the 21st century. It won't be perfect, there will be those narrow minded people stuck in the 1900's, but they aren't the majority any more!!!

[DemoMom]

Those of us living in the US have no real idea of how difficult it has been for Americans living overseas in the last 8 years. My daughter who lives in London told me that today she can hold her head up high and be really proud of what this country achieved yesterday. I think this holds true for Americans living all over the world. When Bush and Cheney leave office, it will be time to rebuild all those fractured relationships with other countries and put an end to a very dangerous time. Now we can move on because it's the dawn of a new day.

[MsDebate]

I really enjoyed your post, I too was very elated b/c my kids voted for the first time this election and I was a proud Mama.

[JeanV]

I knew I had turned a page when one night about a month ago, a fellow volunteer at the Green Valley Arizona Democrats office said to me "Isn't it great, I never thought I would live to see it" And I said, "yes--there actually will be another Democrat in the White House before I get too old and die." And she said--"No, I meant an African American in the White House." I then realized that I did not think first of Barack Obama as black--I thought of him first as the Democratic candidate and statesman that I was working for.

Here I am a 61 year-old white woman who remembers the civil rights movement and as a child walked to the "wrong side" of a drinking fountain in Little Rock, no longer seeing race first as an identifying factor. I had turned a page and today I think the country has too.

[lhwilliams]

Unbelievable!! I'm still feeling numb from the announcement that we actually have a black president. I would have never thought in my lifetime that I would see someone that looks like me in the white house. This is a proud moment for me and my ancestors. I have to admit that two years ago, I was one of the naysayers and thought Barack was crazy to think he could win. I'm so glad he had more confidence in America than I and others had.

We now must pray for him and protect him from harm. I think he will do a wonderful job. He has energized all of us to dream and not be afraid to succeed.

[paganmist]

I know my daughter - 8 years old, biracial - is tired of hearing me say it, but I keep thinking it, and telling her,

"Baby, you are so lucky. You will grow up in a world where no one will ever say that a black man can never become President. So many people were hurt, and fought hard, and even died for this. We are both so lucky to see this."

She feels the excitement, and even feels the reverence, but I don't think she truly understands what I mean.

But that's okay. In a way, I'm glad that she'll grow up never quite "getting" it. This is her world now, and in her world, anything is possible.

[blaqntelligence]

"But that's okay. In a way, I'm glad that she'll grow up never quite "getting" it. This is her world now, and in her world, anything is possible."

It is that sentiment that kept me home from work Wednesday. I spent the day crying for this moment, for those upon whose backs we stand, and out of gratitude that my two beautiful daughters really don't "get it".
Beautiful post. Thank you.

[Bob5460]

It was fun to be part of that line. The buzz up and down the line about how this was going to be a historic day was very eye opening. As a person of no color, it's easy to overlook the importance of such milestones. Thanks to those I met in line, it will be a day I will always remember fondly.