Really. It is.
Now that Froody is better my mind can focus on other things, like Obama's inauguration. I know that you've probably heard on the news how 12 billion pairs of eyes will be on Obama tomorrow and I'm here to say that that is no lie. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is happy and hopeful that Barak Obama will be the President of the United States of America.
People in Kenya and Tanzania hope that he will increase aid to Africa. Egyptians and Jordanians hope he will bring peace to the Middle East and change the way America deals with Israel. (Our guide in Karak was very confident that Obama will make big changes for the Middle East, especially since he will "rule America" for 8 years. (That really got me. Ruling America. I don't really see the president as ruling America.)) Indians hope he will help them with Pakistan.
I try to remind all these people, gently, that Obama has to fix America's problems. And we all know that we have some big problems.
I'm writing this after watching an Indian-based news program (ie: not BBC World News nor CNN) covering the pre-inauguration lead-up to the actual inauguration. They were discussing the theme for his inaugural speech and all the security measures. A couple of young men from Delhi happened to score inauguration tickets and the newspaper quoted them as being very excited about it.
America will have it's first black president. Everyone knows that Obama is a black American. Yet, I still get incredulous looks when I say that I am American. "Are you sure you're not Indian? No one in your family is Indian?," is the response I'm getting here. No one seems happy until I've explained my family roots. And I don't think this helps to get them to see me as an American. We met a Belgian who said, "Really? You're so brown." Dude, I am so. totally. an. American.
So, Obama, I have a wish for you, too. While you're out there creating more jobs, making our country greener, and bringing peace to the world, can you remind EVERYONE that not every American is white? Some of us are even brown.
2 comments:
I grew up in Florida, outside all the time. With brown hair, brown-black eyes, and skin that just gets darker and darker, I grew up very dark brown. Which, to me, seemed very perfectly utterly, even boringly, NORMAL, at least for a lot of Floridians. But, when I moved out of state, many people thought I was Latina. I was amazed and confused that people could be so amazed and confused! I also once brought a Philapina nanny to the US while visiting. She'd never visited. Every day she'd tell me, in a tone of stunned awe and wonder, things like "the cashier at the store was Nigerian!", "the preacher said he was from the Ukraine!", "the bank manager is from the Phillapines!" and every time, I would tell her.. yes, most people in America ARE from somewhere else :-) My pale ancestors have been here since the 1600's - but I do not think that we're the norm.
Glad Froody is better!
Yeah, in Southern Cali, everyone looks like me. I forget that most Americans look like my hubby. I know it's no big deal, but I get tired of it. I think America's diversity is one of the coolest things about it. That and good infrastructure.
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