September 24, 2008
When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, "Moses! Moses!" "Here I am!" Moses replied. Then the Lord told him, "I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt." But Moses protested to God, "Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?" God answered, "I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain." But Moses protested, "If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what should I tell them?" God replied to Moses, "I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you." God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.- Exodus 3: 4, 7-14 (The Message)
I met Barack Obama during the summer of 2003. I was an AFL-CIO (aka "The Union") Intern, where I was supposed to learn the importance of the need for workers to have equal rights, equal pay and equal representation-through the Union. However, I learned more about how the world views me more than anything else. My roommate's father was a member of the Klan and she thought all African-Americans were incompetent. And here I was- a Black Studies major who wore the faces of political prisoners on every other shirt and went to the Southside of Chicago every chance I got. With eight people living together, two of them African-American- and other six believing we carried The Plague, the internship was beginning to take its toll. Until one day.
After working all day, we were told to meet at a little church on Chicago's South Side to meet a man who was running for the Senate. The last thing I wanted to do was go to "my side" of town and meet another politician who was trying to grab the Black vote. And then he came in. With each word, it was as if he made me believe that part of my growth and development hinged on being a roommate to those who questioned my very existence. I listened intently and clung to his every syllable. When he finished, my friend Kiel and I walked up to him and declared we were ready to quit our Union Summer internship and devote our time fully to his campaign. He tilted his head and gave us his signature laugh. I told him I was ready to move to Illinois just so I could vote him. He looked at me and asked if I was registered to vote, to which I replied yes. And he told me that every time I engage in the political process, I vote for him. This was Barack Obama in 2003- encouraging, inspiring, engaging and believable. And that was the same Barack Obama I took my little cousin Ryan to hear this past Sunday in Charlotte.
People are tired and desire something different. We want the country that we've invested so much into to work for us and not against us. People wonder why Obama's campaign is so successful; it's due to the fact that he's been able to give us hope that the impossible is possible. My cousin Ryan can actually believe that he can be president one day. I can vote for something my grandfather didn't get a chance to: the fulfillment of our freedom from the past and the beauty of our future. Regardless of who you vote for on November 4, what can't be denied is that the shift in the hearts and minds of the people in this country is for the better and we are all the wiser for it.
I serve God and He approves this message.
©BirthRight, 2008
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