Pari(s) Obama
Pari in French (written like Paris without an S and is pronounced the same way) means bet. And we are betting, with a lot of confidence I might add, on Obama to change things, today being his inauguration as the President of the US.
The night of the election (it was night in Paris) was probably one of the few times when I wished that I had been in Los Angeles or New York rather than Paris. If there is something that I thought came across in his message, it was that we should look beyond the color of the skin when we look at a man or a woman (but also beyond their faith, their sexual orientation and origin). But, of course, who could at that moment forget for a nanosecond the historical significance of the event : the first African American ever to lead the US, and with it, the world.
Given the history of the US , I did not believe until the very last
minute that ‘the people” would actually elect Obama as President . Did not dare even to imagine that the US was ready for that for fear of jinxing what I hoped and fuelled to a large degree by the fear that Palin could become, eventually, President of the US if John McCain was to be elected. That would probably be the only scenario I could imagine that is worse than the US under Bush!
The significance of having a Black president could not be emphasized enough. Here is a person who could heal wounds that might have been healing but still leave traces in forms and shapes that are so far removed we may not even think they could be related. But now, imagine all the African, Asian and Hispanic American boys and girls who could, with firm belief rather than ephemeral fantasy, dream of becoming a US President. In his speech Obama talked of confidence….and I think that that is the one thing he has given us all, of whatever colors but especially those of color in multicultural societies, in the US and beyond their borders. A color that at times could stigmatize us by sight alone is finally starting to fade....as Obama said, hopefully, we could all find that common humanity not too far below the colors...
Pari in French (written like Paris without an S and is pronounced the same way) means bet. And we are betting, with a lot of confidence I might add, on Obama to change things, today being his inauguration as the President of the US.
The night of the election (it was night in Paris) was probably one of the few times when I wished that I had been in Los Angeles or New York rather than Paris. If there is something that I thought came across in his message, it was that we should look beyond the color of the skin when we look at a man or a woman (but also beyond their faith, their sexual orientation and origin). But, of course, who could at that moment forget for a nanosecond the historical significance of the event : the first African American ever to lead the US, and with it, the world.
Given the history of the US , I did not believe until the very last
minute that ‘the people” would actually elect Obama as President . Did not dare even to imagine that the US was ready for that for fear of jinxing what I hoped and fuelled to a large degree by the fear that Palin could become, eventually, President of the US if John McCain was to be elected. That would probably be the only scenario I could imagine that is worse than the US under Bush!The significance of having a Black president could not be emphasized enough. Here is a person who could heal wounds that might have been healing but still leave traces in forms and shapes that are so far removed we may not even think they could be related. But now, imagine all the African, Asian and Hispanic American boys and girls who could, with firm belief rather than ephemeral fantasy, dream of becoming a US President. In his speech Obama talked of confidence….and I think that that is the one thing he has given us all, of whatever colors but especially those of color in multicultural societies, in the US and beyond their borders. A color that at times could stigmatize us by sight alone is finally starting to fade....as Obama said, hopefully, we could all find that common humanity not too far below the colors...
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment