Hope: I am the American Dream

Yesterday was a day that I know I will remember for the rest of my life.

I honestly never thought in my lifetime I would ever see a Black presidential candidate who received a Democratic or Republican Party nomination. I remember my exact words about one year ago regarding Barack Obama’s bid for the White House. “Obama seems like a smart guy, but there is no way he will ever get the Democratic nomination, this is America.” I said these words to my friend, who is also Black and we both agreed with my statement, without even giving it a second thought. We simply had accepted it as fact, that as Black Americans we would probably never get to see a person nominated for President of the United States who looks like us, even if they were just as talented and qualified as Presidential candidates before them.

I am not one to go around constantly complaining of what I can’t do because I am a minority, and how I will never get ahead because of the invisible (or not so invisible, in the South) hand of oppression and racism, quite the contrary actually. I have two well-educated parents, who have always stressed the importance of working hard, exceeding the minimum expectations required, and never giving up or giving in. My father is from Nigeria, and is a complete embodiment of the American dream. If you are willing to get the education, and put in the hard work with the understanding that you will always have to work twice as hard just to be equal to your non-minority counterparts you will have success in America. It always struck me as slightly unfair, but those are the breaks if you are a minority and want to be successful.

I came to terms with this as a teenager, and have always strived to do better than what is expected of me, in school I was pushed not to settle for just getting an A, but to try harder next time and get an A+. I carried this way of thinking and living with me to college, into my career, and now to graduate school. Along the way I was often ostracized by my own Black people for “acting white”, and still to this day as an almost 30 year old woman, I still here comments from Black people about how white I act/talk. This is still is difficult to hear, because In mind since I was 10 years old I have just been living the values that my parents have tried to instill in me.

As much as I heard my parents “work harder than the next guy” mantra, beat into my brain, and growing up and trying to live my life this way, I guess I never fully 100% bought into to it until yesterday. Everyday I wake up and try to do my very best to make the right choices, but in the depths of my heart I have doubts that at the end of my life it may have all been in vain, because even in, America the country I love I think I am still regarded as a second class citizen. I have lived a life in which I have been presented with discreet racism, overt racism, and I just try to ignore it fight through it, and remember what my parents have told me; get educated, work hard, always work to improve yourself. I have doubts that even though, I know I am smart, and capable, and will always been seen as less than.

I know there are famous Black people on television all the time, but I feel like as a nation, we rarely get to see Black people who have embraced higher education, taking personal responsibility, and working harder, to become successful. I know they are out their living their lives working hard, and having the same thoughts as me, but I didn’t get to see them. There are times when you think surely, there is a place where there are people like me and my family. Why do I never see these examples?

Obama’s story is especially important to me, because so often when people make generalizations about Black people, the assumptions are made that they are in their predicaments because of poor choices. What about all the Black Americans who make the right choices, and do whatever they can everyday to be “good citizens” their entire lives? What about the Black people like my father, and mother, and two brothers who work hard, get educated, never make excuses, but are faced with daily doubts and live in a country where you are constantly having to fight for a chance? Where you are fighting preconceived notions about your abilities, and always having to prove to others that you are capable, and intelligent, but still feel like an afterthought, or left feeling marginalized when you know you have good ideas, in spite of ALWAYS trying to do the right thing to be a good citizen.

I don’t always 100% agree with Obama’s policies or his voting record, but I truly believe he is a candidate that is aware of the areas in which he has weaknesses, and will staff to sure them up. We are 67 days away from Election Day, and no matter the outcome, I think I will remember the day of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, even more than Election Day, because this was the day, for the first time in MY adult life that I felt included. This is the day, that for the first time in MY adult life that I sincerely believed that you can not give up hope. This is the day that for the first time in MY adult life I feel confident in not giving up, even in the face of being an afterthought to some people. This is the day, that for the first time in MY adult life I believe more strongly than ever in the importance of education and higher education.

I am the American Dream.