Some conflicting thoughts on this historical day

Today is one for the history books, yes indeed. We finally elected a black man, and yet i find myself guarded.

For one the dialogue in america on race is almost exclusively about black and white relations. What about the other minorities and people of mixed heritage (like myself)? My family has suffered discrimination on two fronts; race and class. I put myself through college and gazillions of loans. I'll be paying them off for the rest of my life. There is no african american ancestry in my family, but our collective experience of poverty and racism was/is in many ways just as painful.

When i look at Barack's family i cant help but notice his asian sister and his niece. I wonder if he will be able to widen the dialogue, to include all people of color. We all have our painful histories in this country. That pain is deserving of dialogue, restitution and healing.

Poverty is another area that i hope he will address. I encounter a number of very harmful attitudes about poverty in America. We say that anyone can make it, but the reality is that few have the capability. Obama may have been black, but he had several advantages that many lack. The first being he had an educated mother who valued education. This automatically jumps him into the middle class. He had a relatively stable family. His grandmother helped raise him. He grew up in hawaii and asia, there are very different attitude towards poverty in those parts of the world. Finally Barack is hella smart. I have family members who are sweet but physically/mentally/emotionally incapable of working. They live on peanuts. There is no free ride in America. In America we have to be careful about what we say about people of other races, but if you're fat and poor, you might as well be walking with a target on your belly.

I pray that Barack might be able to educate and enlighten people about poverty in the US. Especially in this economy. We need to have an honest dialogue that is free of myths, like the majority of people on welfare are black/hispanic and/or lazy. And have a dialogue that includes the ignored rural poor. Many of whom live in conditions similar to people in developing countries. Our general attitude is that if they wanted to work, they could, but refuse. Reality is much more complicated. Poverty is more like a mixed up rubiks cube, some peoples cubes are missing the stickers. They deserve dignity in life too. Just as there are different algorithms to solving a rubiks cube, we are going to have to use different algorithms for different situations to solve poverty in America.

Finally health care including mental health care. This is a mess. I have no idea where to start. But i do know that it has become a moral issue. There is rampant corruption and greed. Much like in Wall Street. It certainly has been a contributing factor to the downturn. After all you get cancer, lose your job, you're done. Because you got sick, the health insurance companies will make sure you never dig yourself out of debt. This is a corruption we must kill. People don't choose to get sick/cancer/injured/maimed... why punish them for something they cant control? The mental health system is even sicker. People who could be working/contributing/functioning are instead begging on sidewalks or on general assistance because they cant afford the therapy and meds they need to function. Worse yet, some get a hold of weapons and listen to the voices in their heads.... We need to come to grips with the reality of mental illness and its price on our society.

So yeah, i'm hopeful, glad to have seen such a historical day. But im guarded in my hope. I've heard alot of promises and seen alot of passion in my day. I just hope that the energy will continue and that we as American's will answer the call for service and pass the hope that we've gotten from one man, to many out there who have no hope. After all he can make all sorts of promises, but if we just sit on the sidelines, nothing will get done. And he'll end up just being another politician, full of promises, but unable to deliver.