Change is here
I met up with friends on Wednesday and celebrated the amazing realization that Barack Obama was going to be the next President of USA. For the whole day we thought we were dreaming.
I am a mixed race Londoner and throughout the day I felt like I was having a wonderful dream. My fear was, that at any second my alarm clock was going to wake me up.
Yes, this is a victory for every black person dead and alive, but it is also a massive victory for every race. Let’s hope that from this point on different races can start to live their lives without hidden prejudices.
The people of America have shown that they can look up to, respect and trust a black man to run their country, so surely communities can also do the same amongst each other.
I am very confident that this is a giant step towards eradicating racism. Maybe you can’t change the views of hard core racists around the world, but their children will now grow up in a world where they see ethnic minorities and majorities working together as one to run the world.
Obama as President is absolute proof that anybody, no matter who you are, can dare to dream and achieve those dreams. There can no longer be individuals or groups blaming society, their colour or their upbringing for not succeeding. The world is everybody’s oyster, they just need to go out there and grab it.
1. Hopefully now: Institutionalised racism will be a thing of the past.
2. Hopefully now: It won’t be acceptable for young black men to be beaten to death by the police in police cells.
3. Hopefully now: It won’t be acceptable for young black males in schools to be ignored and stereotyped as troublemakers –education is a vital tool for all.
4. Hopefully now: It wont be second nature for an elderly person to be afraid when a black man/woman offers to help them with heavy shopping bags up a flight of stairs.
I know these changes won’t happen over night, but what I do know is that they can and will change.I now know anything is possible!
I have chosen a few significant times in the past to highlight. All these examples show just what sheer determination and balls can do to change the ways of the world:
1865: The 13th amendment to the constitution formally abolishes slavery.
The Ku Klux Klan, a violent white supremacist secret society, is founded.
1954: The Supreme Court outlaws segregation in schools.
1955: Rosa Parks, a black civil rights activist sparks a mass movement by refusing to give up her seat to a white person in an Alabama bus. Rise to prominence of Martin Luther King, a charismatic
civil rights leader.
1957: Congress enacts the Civil Rights Act, guaranteeing black people the right to vote.
1963: Martin Luther King addresses 200,000 people in Washington, DC. ‘’I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their
skin,’’ he declares.
1989: Colin Powell becomes the first African-American to head the United States armed forces. He goes on to become the first black secretary of state.
2005: Condoleezza Rice becomes the first black woman to serve as secretary of state.
2008: Barack Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, becomes the first African-American to be elected president of the United States.
It’s wonderful that the pace of change has speeded up dramatically in the last 19 years.
I just have one question.Do you think that the UK is ready for a black Prime Minister? If your answer is ‘no’, then lets ask ourselves why?
Posted by: Toggers