Yes, He Did!

Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of saying LIVE on the air:

"Barack Obama is the next president of the United States."

Before Tuesday, I was not one of those people who walked around saying "he's going to win" or "Obama will beat McCain."

Maybe it's the journalist in me who needs facts in order to believe. Or maybe it's because I worked in newsrooms in the 2000 and 2004 election nights and I can't forget that sometimes we don't know who the president is until hours, days, or months later. So Obama's historic victory is something I didn't want to celebrate ahead of time.

I could hardly enjoy his win TUESDAY because I was working. Although everyone in the newsroom paused to watch his acceptance speech as you can see in the photos below. In fact, my first thoughts were for the safety of the Obama family. I prayed out loud, "Lord - keep him safe and honest."




It wasn't until Wednesday morning while watching news coverage and seeing so much emotion and celebration cross the country and the world - that I was moved to cry.

Earlier this week, I told my colleague, Don Champion, how it would be amazing IF Obama won. There would be a significant difference in what my generation and my father's generation would see as "possible" for African Americans.

For instance, my Dad was born in 1932 when Charleston, South Carolina was segregated. He went to Burke High School - the first public school for black students in the city. He told me he read from old books after the white students had gotten rid of them and the books were even missing pages they were in such bad shape. Later he was drafted during the Korean War and remembers that when the Army bus drove through Mississippi he and the other black soldier were NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE BUS - for fear of their safety. Fast forward to today, I live in Mississippi now. I am an anchor at a TV station - all because of what my parents taught me and because no schools or universities were ever "out of my reach."

What a difference in what one generation can see and CHANGE. And in case you're wondering, based on what my Dad has lived and survived - he didn't think he'd ever live to see a black president.