Tuesday, June 03, 2008

January 3, 2008 - A Dream Forms Real Roots




A snowy night in Iowa.

That is when it began.

When a First Term Senator from the State of Illinois shocked America by winning, convincingly, the Iowa Caucus.

I spent the night fielding calls from friends and family. Short calls that didn't amount to much more than " HE WON.......I'll call you back!"

As an African-American, even though I had been donating money, volunteering, even going to Iowa to canvass, seeing him on that stage, in victory, was surreal.

For my mother, born in the Jim Crow South, seeing Obama on stage in 90+% White Iowa, a clear winner was something she never thought she'd see in her lifetime. For my teenaged nephew, all he knew was that his first political exercise of his franchisement would be for Barack Obama.

Admit it....Iowa made you shake your head.

What else do you you remember about that night?

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