I'm Having A Moment!

**WARNING: I'M ABOUT TO GET SOMEWHAT POLITICAL**

I usually would not put an entry like this on my Religion page. But today, I'm going to break protocol and share with you some of what I'm feeling right now.

If you've come here to find out who I voted for, you can leave now. My mama don't even know who I voted for. She always told me that knowledge was between me and Heavenly Father and I've yet to disclose it to any one. I will say I flipped the switch this time and went outside my norm. I'll also say that my family (parents, daughter, siblings) were very divided and we most likely cancelled each other out.
That being said, I want to say I'm very disappointed in the attitude of some people I've been hearing the last 24 hours.
Let me share some quotes:

"all I've heard from the black communities is.. first black president. None of them have even mentioned that issues..."
"blacks only voted for another black person, not the best candidate"
"this is the most blatant act of racism america has seen"
"what is this, the second emancipation?" "c'mon america I thought this was not about race..."


This historical elections WAS indeed about race. And about economy, and education, and gender biases, and wars and rumors of wars.... IT'S POLITICAL so of course it's going to be about all these things.

It's not like all the black folk called each other and said..."Vote for Obama and then lets seduce a bunch of white people into changing their minds so our evil plan for black power is now in the works."


People TODAY I am having a Moment!

In this moment I feel the slave generations of my family and their weariness of working sun up to sun down in the heat soaked cotton and tobacco fields of the south.

I feel their joy with their greatest hope of succes was to simply be able to serve in the "big house" instead of in the fields.

I feel the pain of those who were struck hundreds of times by "massa's whip!"

I feel the fear of waking each day not knowing if today was the day that your 15 year old son would be sold off to some plantation 50 miles away to pay off a debt or if your 18 year old daughter would be chosen as a breeder to supply massa with more slave children to increase his personal wealth.
I feel the hope of and dreams of running away on that underground railroad to find freedom.

I feel the anxiousness of those who fleed the south to join the civil ward in the fight for freedoms that would not come to completeness until longer after they have passed and gone home to glory.

I feel their pride and joy

in being a needed force to be reaconed and risking their lives to save those they served with in world wars as allies and country men, only to return to their own country and continue to suffer through the wars on racism and on equal rights. I feel their frustration in wanting their children to have an opportunity for the best education in universities and colleges regardless of skin color.
I feel their aching backs and tired and blistered feet as they walk for hours and sometimes days just to be able to have a voice in equality, only to be met with opposition, humilitation and in many cases death.













I feel their horror in gathering to go to choir practice or Wednesday night Church prayer meeting and instead of feeling the Burning Spirit of the Lord, Seeing a burning cross in front of their burning church.









I feel the years and years of training and exhaustion to represent their country and be awarded respect on the world stage and afterwards still feel the sting of being emasculated and reduced to nothing but an oppressed colored man or woman at home.

















My People, I AM HAVING A MOMENT!
In honor of my Great-GreatGrandparents and Great-Grandparents who would never live to see this day.

In honor of my Grandparents who walked instead of riding the buses, who used the colored only drinking fountains. Who got hosed down and arrested for protesting. Who held up their fists in hopes of civil and social equality and have passed on never to see it or to experience very little of it their life times, this moment I share with you.

Their Country, my country, OUR country is a place where someone like them or myself have the ability to and the opportunity to no longer be blocked, barred and held back by the color of our skin.

We live in a country where indeed anyone regardless of gender, color, religion and social background through the generations can absolutely become President of the United States.

With that must come some pride and joy in being a part of this country.
To those of you who will not, and cannot acknowledge this aspect of our country and will negate this moment, the history and the doors it has opened because of the politcal platform of the newly elected president Barack Obama I invited you to take a moment. Take a moment and revel in the awesomeness of where this country was to how far it's come in providing the opportunity and learning from the wrongs and the mistakes it's made against it's own people of color: Native American, Latin American, African American.... stop me at anytime.
I'm not asking you to agree with who is now president elect of the United States. Take a moment to find the positives in being blessed in the fact that we live in an amazing country. What makes us amazing is our ablility to learn from our mistakes and to endure through the growing pains that have brought us thus far.

It only took us about 200 years to get there, however the fact will always be
A country who once thought of the black man as "the beast" or "the help" or " Property" has elected the very same to leads its country.

Copy and paste the following clip and you'll get an understanding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyf91ANvKHY


And for all these reasons, I Am Having A moment.

To those of you who fear the next 4 years I say to you, out of the mouth of my 18 year old just yesterday: "If Ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." We've been instructed on how to prepare our selves by our Prophets and other church leaders. Perhaps spending some time in the scriptures ( May I suggest revelations?) will remind us the signs of the times and ALL that must happen before hand. I promise as we prepare ourselves for things to come, all fear will be replaced with faith.