Just now I took a look into the future...

Just now I took a look into the future
Something only the foolish or dying would dare
Just now I took a look into the future
To see if my living had been in vain
Just now I took a look into the future…

This morning, I woke up on the same futon and heard the rush of traffic outside my homegirl’s window. This morning, I woke up with the same couple of dollars in my pocket, threw on my same black jeans, the classic red and black North Face, my newly-polished old Dunks and headed out in search of some newspaper. This morning, I stepped outside my door and heard the din of children’s screams and laughter from across the street; the same din from the same kids at the same school. Looking into the silver gray sky, standing in so much sameness, I knew the world was a completely different place.

I saw a fruit tree dripping with dew
The sky full of wild birds homeward bound
I saw a man bend down and drink water from a river
Ten thousand children playin’ in the rain…

Since last night, everyone I’ve spoken to is working hard to somehow grasp this moment. What will we say to our children? What will we tell them of this day? While I have never been one to shy away from hyperbole, I’ll do so now. There is no exaggeration worthy of this moment, so, for my children, I begin with this…

Just now I took a look into the future
I saw Red people
Black people
White people
Yellow people
I saw Brown people, Red people, Black, Yellow, White people
Gathered at the rainbow place chanting…

Before November 4th, 2008 at around 11:30pm EST, The single most important event of my lifetime took place on the 11th of September, 2001. I was a junior at the Abbey then and a morning assembly had been called. My pals and I were in the student center at thetime and a sudden all for assembly  gave me cause to pause.  As we made the sojourn from student center to auditorium, the only thing going through my mind was, “Crap, someone shot Bush.” Interestingly, when the thought crossed my mind,  I felt a  pang of conflicted sorrow–I doubted I would mourn him as I would have mourned  my own presidential  choice, but I was struck by  the fact that it made me sadder than I thought it would when the theoretical arose. We reached the assembly hall and our headmaster calmly told us a plane had hit the World Trade Towers. His voice was even-toned; concerned but not alarmed. I think the general sense was that a biplane had gone off course and clipped one of the towers. Things seemed a bit more fishy when they released us from our morning class obligations.

Some of the guys and gals headed down to St. Bede’s–the day student dorm–to see what the fuss was all about. We clicked on the TV and watched the greatest action movie everyone never wanted to see. A 747 was flying into a giant building, just like the movies. Windows blowing out for forty stories in each direction as the plane burst into flames. Except there was no cut to our hero or villain delivering some pithy one-liner. There was only a terrifying silence accented by the sound of everyone attempting to call anyone and everyone they knew in New York and DC.  It took me a long time to get through to my brother in DC. The whole time, the only thing I could think was, “If these mufuckas killed my brother, it’s on. For life.” The only thing I remember distinctly is that the whole world was making a phone call and no one was getting through.

On and on
Times moving on and  on and
On and on
Times moving on and on…

November 4th, 2008 was tantamount to 9/11. Except the complete opposite. After spending seven years living in a state of perpetual fear, sometimes real and often imagined, living in times that seemed increasingly cynical and devoid of hope, 52% of the American public took a chance. With the future at stake, the people threw their support behind a man with dreams on his mind.

I was living in New York City at the time. My girlfriend Kim and I had gone home the day before so we could vote. We knew we weren’t about to be swing state heroes, but this election was important. It was the most important. And while I was too lazy to fill out an absentee ballot anyway, I was glad I went home. I got up with mom and pop and we all went and exercised our right. And it felt good. Once I submitted my ballot, I avoided all election talk. Now the shit was real and I didn’t want to stress myself out.  We hitched a ride back to New York with Melissa, one of my dunnies from the day. We listened to cd’s the whole way. While riding through Harlem on the way to 109th street, I saw a video screen saying Obama was getting crushed in electoral college votes, sixteen to three. That immediately gave me an extreme sense of foreboding, not unlike the feeling I had after Plaxico Burress beat Ellis Hobbs for that touchdown in the Super Bowl the year before, except about something that would alter the destiny of my country. The whole rest of the ride, I sat in silence and stewed; we’d all known it was a possibility he could lose, but I never imagined how bad I would feel about the actual possibility of it happening. Obama losing would have signaled the end of…everything. His defeat would be our Kennedy assassination. Maybe worse, because we didn’t see any Bobbies coming down the pike.

We got back to Morningside Heights–we were staying with my homegirl TIng while we got on our feet in the city–around 8:15.  My mood was something far beyond salty. When we hit the buzzer, Steve Biko–he was doing his Columbia Law thing at the time–answered, sounding fairly light of heart. That pissed me off. Thefuture’s falling to the wayside and he’s playing intercom jokes. When we reached Thug’s Mansion–or apartment 5A as the super called it–the mood in the room was light; not arrogant but cautiously optimistic. Alogn with Steve Biko and of course Ting, Aileen, one of Ting’s nursing school goonies was there, posted up on the couch. There was beer and wine and vodka, and Mexican grub–you might say we were prepared either way.  When I expressed my frustration at Obama’s being dominated in the electoral college votes, my friends looked at me quizzically. “Jon,” they said, “It’s 103 to 16.” Apparently I didn’t see the screen right. But it was still early.

We flipped between multiple news channels trying to get the latest and most accurate-seeming scoop. Jokes abounded as we tried to not jinx the enormity of the moment. Biko, more of a wonk than the rest of us, sat more confident than most, he knew how the college worked and knew the math of it. Still, we were nervous. We’d seen how math could do funny thing in times like these.

It was around 1130 or so, when they called California and we knew it was over.

I cried a little. We all got on our phones. Just like 9/11, you could barely get a call through. Unlike 9/11, we felt like we had been delivered from fear. I called my dad and just kept screaming, “They tried to kill us but they couldn’t! THEY TRIED TO KILL US BUT THEY COULDN’T!” I asked him to put my mom on the phone, but apparently, she was at Rhode Island’s democratic headquarters huckabuckin’. Then I called my various cohorts and henchpeople and shouted essentially the same thing I had to my dad. The roar from the streets was too loud to ignore, so Kim and I took to the streets.

Out on Amsterdam, Brown people, red people, black, yellow, and white people danced in the streets. People hugged, pumped fists, took random pictures and rejoiced. A cacophony of car horns never sounded sweeter. We knew we needed to stay out and savor it, so I called AJ and we went over to post up at his homegirl’s place.  On the way there I called both my grandmothers and thanked them. We were truly standing on the shoulders of giants. When we got to the crib, we drank a little more and waited for Obama’s acceptance speech. We had two computers set up, just in case any of the streaming feed got screwed up. These words were going to be too important. As he spoke, we all sat in silence, just nodding our heads. Then we went home because there was nothing left to say.

Just now I took a look into the future
I had to see if we made it through
Just now I took a look into the future
I had to see if what it would be…

I cannot at this moment articulate what this means. It’s still too early and too giant and too…everything. So like I said, I won’t use hyperbole. I’ll merely state the facts, facts that cannot be altered or quibbled with:

I heard a newborn baby cry
While a mother and father smiled at the child
I saw a man bend down and drink water from a river
Ten thousand people singin’ in the rain…

The most powerful person in the world goes by the name of Barack Hussein Obama. The son of an Kenyan father and Irish-American mother, he is the 44th president-elect of a nation which had, less than 150 years earlier, not considered people such as himself human, much less citizens.  That’s to say nothing of the subsequent 150 years which could be considered less than comfy. On November 4th, 2008 at around 11:30 EST, Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States of America. And I saw it happen.

Just now I took a look into the future
I saw Red people
Black people
White people
Yellow people
I saw Brown people, Red people, Black, Yellow, White people
Gathered at the rainbow place chanting

We crossed over from the Madness Time
We crossed over from the Madness Time
We crossed over from the Madness Time
And we’re never going back again
No we’re never going back again
No we’re never going back
Are you gonna be ready?

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