All roads lead to D.C.
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States. He also became the first African-American President. His election was for many considered impossible. I was must admit that I was one of the pessimists. I never believed that I would see a minority President in my lifetime. It has happened. So that brings us to the question what does this means for African-Americans?
To understand the answer to that question we must take a short history lesson. For almost 100 years African-Americans were denied the basic right to vote through a variety of different means. It was not until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in the late 1960`s that African-Americans were able to exercise their right to vote.
Prior to the Voting Rights Act, many people died to give African-Americans the right to vote. Obama`s victory on the night of November 4 is in small part because of their scarifies .They endured beatings, water hoses, dogs and killings to acquire those what was a basic right for others.
One could also make a case that for much of the 200 plus years of American history with the exception of the last 40 years African-Americans were treated as second class citizens. For many they never believed in the so called “American dream”. Yes, they were taught that you could be anything you wanted to be but it did not apply to African-Americans.
So what does it mean for African-Americans? Well it depends on who you talk to. I would say that for many it means that they can finally say that they are indeed part of America. For others it means that they can finally tell their children with confidence that they can be anything in life that they want to be if they are willing to work for it. But, for the most part many feel a sense of pride. The pride from comes not only winning, but from running the best Presidential campaign ever.
-Arthur Cartlidge
＜今日の単語＞
■election 【名】 選挙
■pessimist 【名】 悲観主義者
■vote 【名】 票、投票
■means 【名】 手段、方法
■Voting Rights Act 投票権法
■endure 【他動】 ～に耐え抜く
■citizen 【名】 市民