Welcome Back America!

I know everyone and their dog have already commented on the historic event that just took place in the US. I gotta speak my mind as well and add to the chorus.

Let me just say that Obama did not win the race simply because he was black. He won because he was the most suitable candidate for the job. He won because of his inspirational leadership skills, because of the policies he proposed and the platform under which he was running.

Coming from a predominantly Black country I grew up seeing a Black person holding the highest position in my country's government. However, even for me and for many persons of Black descent not living in the United States, words cannot express how it felt to watch Obama win the US elections and to listen to his victory speech. And for this, I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with an article I recently read which said that America has once again returned to its place as the land of opportunity in the eyes of many world citizens. When you think about the fact that just 40 years ago the law in the US supported the practice of treating Blacks as second-class citizens.

Less than 40 years ago, Blacks in the US were being killed simply because they dared to stand up to the inequality that existed at the time. And yet....and yet...just 40 years after...millions of Americans, (Black, white and all the shades in between), voted for a man of Black descent to be their president. Americans voted for a man who, half-white or not, had he been living in America 40 years ago, based on his looks, would have never come close to getting the opportunity to even consider running for president. That fact speaks volumes to me. It proves to many of us around the world that regardless of all the bad that exists there, that the United States is still really the main land of opportunity, where dreams can come true. For all other Western countries' talk of having more racial tolerance and equality, I have yet to see them elect a minority to their highest office in government. And those other countries abolished slavery long before the US did (European countries) or, hell, many of them did not even have slavery (I see you Canada).

Also, while I was just now referring to visible minorities holding positions of government, I was also using it to mean all minorities. I mean, with the exception of South Africa, I have not heard of another big (physically or influentially) country that has elected to their highest position in office, a person who is a member of a minority group that has faced at least centuries of hardship from the majority in that country. *I welcome corrections on that and am genuinely interested to learn as I know that there are other countries who do not really toot their horn much.

My Two Cents On The Democratic Race

Happy New Year to all. Below is something I've been thinking about lately...

**********
It’s been some years since I lived in the US and while I still have friends and family there I am not as keen to know what’s going on there as I used to be. However, being in Canada, it’s hard to ignore the fact there is a hot lead up to the presidential race going on south of our border at the moment. I consider myself more a supporter of the Democrats than the Republicans because there are a great deal more issues that I and the Democrats agree on. As I previously mentioned, it's hard to ignore the overwhelming amount of news on the current political climate down South. Thus, I have been following the progress of the current candidates from each of the two major parties that are vying to become their party’s nominee for the presidential race.

Two of the main frontrunners in the Democratic race, as I’m sure most of the world knows by now, are Barack Obama, the would-be first Black president, and Hilary Clinton, the would-be first female president. If I were trying to decide how to vote, that would be a tough decision for me. As a Black person I look forward to the day the US, undeniably the world’s current superpower, even with its waning influence, has its first Black president. However, as a woman, I also look forward to the day the US has its first female president. I wouldn’t have thought that the first time there is a possibility of either happening it would mean that one has to win over the other. I think both candidates have good ideas. Despite Hilary thinking she has more experience, she doesn’t really so they’re both about equal on experience. And so I would be stuck.

To be honest, up until yesterday, I had been rooting mostly for Obama. However, yesterday, all the news articles that I read were commenting on Hilary’s emotional, “close to tears” behaviour on a campaign stop in New Hampshire (this was before the results came out) [Times Online, BBC News Online]. I hated how it was implied that being a little emotional is wrong for a presidential hopeful. In fact, the main underlying point that I got from many of the articles was that women will always get a little emotional when the going gets tough and that is bad for politics. And then my feminist side got angry because, of course, this type of thinking would mean that the man’s way is the best way.

Women haven’t really had a chance to be themselves in the boardroom or in politics because men have always run the show and so the choice has always been to follow suit or settle for something less. I bet that, of the women currently running companies or countries, hardly any of them decided to stray far from the pattern established by men. That is a sad fact to me. I know that it will be hard to change the way we think right now to have a society in place where women would run the world very differently. Too many millennia of accepted behaviour have been established by men so that most women now consciously or subconsciously think that the man’s way is the best way. Oftentimes, I wonder what the world would be like if women ran it their own way, from the beginning. I really and truly believe that there would be less wars and conflict.

So yesterday, after reading the articles, I felt like taking Hilary’s side for a bit. It seems that my sentiments were shared by many women in New Hampshire as she convincingly beat Barack, in great part due to her winning a much larger share of the women voters. However, now that Hilary has won something, I’ve started to contemplate on all the obstacles that people of colour have faced and continue to face in the US and how great it would be to have a Black president. But that’s another story….

Thanksgiving Weekend

This past weekend was Thanksgiving in the USA. Having first celebrated it there, I think I rather prefer Thanksgiving in the States than in Canada. My main reason for this is I believe that date on which it falls in the States is much better than the Canadian one.

Thanksgiving to me is similar to Christmas - It's a time to be thankful for all that God has given us, to reunite with family and to relax. I love Christmas time because once it hits December everyone on the streets start looking happier. There is more hustle and bustle of people shopping for things or excitedly talking about presents. People share their funny stories of family members and the city looks more Christmas-y.

When I lived in the US, I knew that once it was close to Thanksgiving time, everyone started acting like it was close to Christmas time. So Thanksgiving marked the beginning of the Christmas season.

Canadian Thanksgiving, however, is in the first week of October. That means that it occurs when all the stores and everyone is gearing up for Halloween. So once Thanksgiving rolls around people do not get into the Christmas spirit as easily because Halloween is next on the agenda and, to me, it is the opposite of Christmas. Everything is dark and gloomy for Halloween versus happy and cheery for Christmas. So in Canada, families re-unite for just that short Thanksgiving weekend. Then we have a whole month before people start really getting into the Christmas season. No looking forward to many family gatherings or parties or nothing.

Anyways, I'm just glad that Christmas is now on everyone's minds.