My American Dream Realized

When people talk of the “American Dream”, what exactly are they speaking of? This question is purely subjective and will mean something completely different for all of us. I know growing up, I wanted to be happy. I couldn’t define “happiness”, but I knew that it was NOT all about money. So how do I get to that land of something indefinable? I try to be the best me that I can be. I excel in school, graduate from college, get a good job. But is that really enough? I say, NO…it is not enough.

I say NO, because, I may have accomplished a few things in my life, but I am but a small particle in the grand universe. I am only 28 years old, but I know that the strides made in Civil Rights and for minorities and other disenfranchised people, are all fairly new. Who would have thought that only 40 years after passing Civil Right’s legislation that a day as historic as today could come around? I would never have fathomed just one year ago that a Black man would have the audacity to run for president. Let alone that white folks could actually let it happen. Just as a rapper’s album cannot go platinum without white folks buying; the same is true for Barack Obama’s chance at winning this election.

This election marks for me what the “American Dream” is about. It gives little boys and girls something that they can visualize and strive for. They actually see someone like themselves crashing through that glass ceiling that has been looming above our heads for hundreds of years. Yea, we (Black folks), may have been “allowed” to be mayors and representatives and senators…but dang y’all, we might get a Black president! I know that Barack hasn’t himself brought race into the election…but it is staring me right in the face, and I am proud. I am proud that we are finally taking a little bit of that dream for ourselves, that the majority will have to cede some of their power, and that we are at a paradigm shift of change.

I was so excited this morning when I voted. I swear to goodness it felt like Christmas when I was a little girl waiting on my parents to wake up. And even though I know that Barack will resoundingly win Illinois that is NOT the point. The point is, I made my statement. I will no longer be relegated by what others give me as being the “American Dream.” My American Dream can be shaped by me and not just what society allows. If we have to claw, pull, or take by force rights and luxuries that should have been afforded to us in the first place, then dammit, that is what we need to do. Barack did it. He wasn’t waiting on anyone to give him the green light that America was ready. He did what he needed to do, regardless of folks being ready. That alone has shifted the consciousness of America.