Obama on the Night of the Election (flickr photos)

Behind the Scenes with the Obamas - November 4, 2008

http://flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/sets/72157608716313371/show/

The Time Has Come.........

Obama's Song by The BlackQueen of ChiTown

OBAMA’S SONG
By: The Black Queen
© November 8, 2008

For those that worked the plantations from dawn to late day
For all those young Black men killed on Emmet Till highway -
CHI's brothas on 71st got reasons to hold their heads up high
OBAMA'S proven that the limit is the sky

40 acres and a mule wasn't honored, but this is a step towards settling the score
Soul Brother Number 1 has become number 44!
America's Commander-in-Chief, Kenya's rising son
History made though we thought it could never be done
Beacon of light for Africans worldwide, but
Especially for Blacks on Chicago's South Side
Who praise Jesus, God, Allah and Jehovah
For victory in the struggle...now over
Waking up with new hope, new dreams of a new day
Remembering our ancestors that have paved the way

This is for Langston whose rivers ran deep in our motherland across the sea
It’s for the dreams deferred until we let America be
We, too, can now sing America and dance our weary blues away
With our genius child, Obama, destined to lead the way
Up you mighty race! – the proclamation Marcus made
To connect us back to where we dwelled before we were slaves
Africa for the Africans – a reasonable plea
Today Obama is our bridge across 9000 miles of sea

As he carries America’s burdens on shoulders broad
We stand at his back, side and to the right of God
We hold him up like mighty bookends against sea’s crashing foam
We are his people, not his burden, his rock, his backbone

This victory is for all our slain warriors and intellectuals of the past
Let November 4, 2008 serve as vindication…equality at last
Let this be for those who heeded David Walker’s appeal
And for Martin who didn’t get here with us but now his dream is real
In Obama I see the benefits of education and what W.E.B. meant
When he spoke of the power of intellectualism and the talented tenth
As the means for our peoples’ rise in the land of the free
The same one written of in the poems of sisters like, Frances Harper & Phyllis Wheatley

I see Malcolm Little being warned against having big dreams
I see brothas dying on CHI streets as America bursts at the seams
I see Sojourner pleading to be seen as a woman worthy of humanity
I see young sistas’ sacrificing their dignity for insanity
I see a dying people now seeing their worth
On the day when the meek inherited the earth,
The last has become first – so ends the long summer of our discontent
Now that America has elected its first Black president
Thank you, Mr. President, for helping us to realize
That all things are possible if you just keep your eyes on the prize

President Barack H. Obama...

President Elect Barack Hussein Obama...enuff said!

Allahu Akbar!

Vancouver for one (July 29-Aug 2)

I think for me Vancouver held none of the comforts of Toronto. It felt cold - literally and figuratively. The torrential weather (mudslides near Whistler). The Asian gang murder plot. The decapitation of a human being on a bus headed to Vancouver. It was not what I went looking for. I did, however, find kinship with Jeff my First Nations tour guide/driver from Vancouver to Victoria (Vancouver Island). We chatted a bit about the indigenous of America and those of BC. I was disturbed to find that their oppression existed well into the 1960's and 1970's and their struggles to move up from what can essentially be described as "reservation land" still rages on today. It seems that the Imperialist vision, like the capitalist one, is difficult to shake.The sun never sets on the British Empire, it was once said, apparently that includes modern day British Columbia as well.

Saturday, Aug 2, 2008


I'm finally going home! This has been the longest week ever! The summer has been eventful and nice; although, I do admit that it feels/felt incomplete without my annual trip to Ontario. Better luck next summer I guess.