Like millions of people around the world, I celebrated Barack Obama's victory. For me, it elicited over 50 years of memories - Jim Crow, lynchings, riots, substandard education, assassinations. It gave me hope that the pain of my past was giving way to a new and better future for my country. I cried and laughed simultaneously.

I don't expect Barack Obama to cure the ills of the world. That's our job as citizens of the United States. I do expect Mr. Obama to provide an example to a new generation, of just what is possible. I expect my grandsons to study harder, read more, learn and remember their history and endeavor to learn the lessons needed to make them Black Men. Mr. Obama will not stop the Black illiteracy rate from increasing, nor will he stop the rate of teen pregancies. He won't stop Black Men from having prostrate cancer at rates higher than the national average. He won't stop black on black crime. The Obama presidency won't stop people from hating soley because they need someone to hate.

When the dust clears, more people will discover the real Barack Obama. He is a politician who wants to provide the leadership to move our country, and perhaps the world in a better direction. But it will be the people of the United States and the world that will ultimately determine whether the lessons of the past will be perpetuated in the future.

The American people elected a young, energetic, inteligent, patriot to its highest office. He won with coalitions from every corner of the country, and promised to work across party lines to build a new America while listening to diverging opinion. What a breath of fresh air and WHAT A HISTORIC DAY IT IS FOR AMERICA.

The message is clear, but the mountain is still visible. It is apparent to me that the election of President Elect Obama is a milestone in the history of our history books. However, it may also be a good time to rewrite the history book, not just to reflect that he is the first AA man to be elected but that he is the first president to be elected by America. It is no doubt in my mind that this man crossed every boundary line that could have been crossed relating to skin color, nationalities, and ethnicities. This has been a real picture of who America really is, not what it does, but who it is. Is this not what we have always recited in every speech calling attention to race & racism that was designed to make us feel bad, but yet it left us years later dealing with the same issue? What a time for true reflection for all of us to share in this moment to help president Obama move America into the country where we all can say that this is The America that our forefathers were prophetic about. So let's continue to move the mountain(s).