Say it, Say it ...

One thing that struck me during Barack Obama's victory speech was the lack of a word. It was a word that had come to define him, his candidacy and the historic nature of this election. It was both what scared people and what endeared people. It was a word that he had before acknowledged, never leaning on it and very many meanings.

The implications of the word are vast, far reaching both forwards and toward ancient time. Throughout his campaign he became someone that could transcend the those implications by acknowledging but. For some acknowledging was not enough, people wanted him to go in. Him skimming the surface was a cause for suspicion that he maybe was not who he appeared. Though for others, the simple acknowledging created a comfort level that eased tension and shepherded a believable campaign of decidedly posts. Post-partisan, post-idelogical, post-divisiveness, and post-racial.

Yes, the word that Barack Obama did not use was Black. When he told the story about his journey to the presidency and then paralleled the story of 106 year-old Ann Nixon Cooper, who has had a lifetime of struggles, one thing he failed to mention was that she was Black.

His exclusion was absolutely deliberate. But I wonder why it was necessary. This could have been the perfect opportunity for Barack to let his hair down and acknowledge the historic nature of his victory. But he didn't, so I'll say it. Barack is Black and he's gonna be the next president of the United States of America!

Victory