Something ‘funny’ happened the other day. America shocked the world. The running story of the American dream continued. Millions and millions of people, black, white, Hispanic, Asiatic, opened a new chapter of the dream book. Name them.

The dream that Martin Luther King idealized which was like the coming back of Jesus Christ became closer to reality. A man was crying. He was a black middle-aged man, crying tears like an inconsolable child.

This man, called Rev. Jesse Jackson was a former US presidential hopeful in the 1980’s. He was standing in the Chicago crowd waiting for the inevitable thing to happen. But when it happened, the man who once epitomized the struggle of African Americans just stood there and sobbed. It was the magnanimity of the moment.

America all through history has been known for its generosity and for its giving of opportunities.

In America, anything is possible. We thought it was not entirely true. Today, poor African shoeless children will be celebrating, perhaps with a piece of the bull that a fortunate family in Kogelo, western Kenya prepared to slaughter days ago.

They will not understand the sheer magnitude that this moment in history bestows on them. They will rid themselves a future that consigned many African children to a life of poverty even before they come into the world.

The promise of possibility rings in the ears of disadvantaged people all over the world.  You can be anything you want to be. It is a promise that was given new wings yesterday. It is this justification of the suffering of African slaves, for toiling for decades in sugar cane plantations in the American south.

To those who did not have a right to vote like everybody else because of the colour of their skin. For those descendants of those brave people who were snatched from heir homes, shackled in chains, herded like animals for thousands of kilometres, shipped in deplorable conditions to far lands, this is their moment. This is the reason for their descendants to say, it was worth it. They can now forgive those who enslaved their ancestors without a tinge of self-regret.

The president of United States (George W. Bush) called a black man to congratulate him and invited him to check out his new residence, the white house. For the world, it is almost impossible to believe. It is impossible to believe that Americans can give a spontaneous reaction to the election of the first black president of the United States.

Americans went out and voted. Lines of anxious voters snaked out and worried that their vote may not count. They gave the man a blow out victory, but still when they heard the news, they were surprised.

America gave us a much-needed revision of an almost forgotten lesson of its gracious history, of America’s democracy. We are and always be the United States of America, he said.

Within minutes of CNN declaring Barack Obama the 44th president of United States, his rival called to congratulate him and went to heap praise on him in his concession speech. It is the lesson of gracious defeat. It is the lesson of a government of the people, for the people and by the people. It is the lesson of humility in victory.

Most of all, America gave us hope beyond measure. It gave us a new spirit. We can be sure that the most powerful nation in the world still cares. We will not worry that all the president of United States cares is to protect American interests. We know that the man in the hot seat is not a stranger. 

We will not worry when they say that black is inferior, that Africans are any less intelligent. We can now believe in the future. Now, we know that, yes we can.

Contact: kelviod@yahoo.com