Dreaming in Color: I read a report earlier this year that said that the television one grows up watching dictates how many of your dreams are in black and white. It really bothered me to think that my parents and I didn't dream in the same colors. My mother was born and raised in Jamaica, where she barely even had a TV. She had a radio, and when she did have TV it was a small, black and white set at her friend's house. My father was born in southern Trinidad, a jungle. He remembers watching Star Trek on a black and white set.
I began to think that perhaps their monochromatic dreams where dictating their black and white worldview. But tonight, for the first time in my life, I realize that it doesn't matter the color of the dream, as long as you see it realized.—Sheena Quashie
Change: When I think of this election, one word comes to my mind: change. Yes, this word may be the underlying theme throughout Obama's presidential campaign but to me, it means so much more. I think we, as a society, are fortunate to live and witness such a historic election. We had an African-American candidate in Obama and a female (vice president) candidate in Palin. These two unique individuals illustrate how far America has come. It shows that every individual today has many more opportunities. With Obama, we have something different and fresh.
With Obama elected as the 44th president and the first African-American in that office, I have to say that we are in for something positive. This is the beginning of a new era in America. I hope that Obama will help American redefine itself through the changes he will implement during his term.
As the days were winding down to Election Day, people were getting anxious. They were anxious, in a sense, to see a new leader giving direction to the country. Indeed, the election will go down as the most memorable election, but the most important priority for Americans was to find a leader who can help the United States repair their image to the world.
Now, with Obama in office, Americans hope he will deliver what he promised throughout his campaign. They hope he will make great changes, mainly by improving the economic situation. For now, the United States is taking a dramatic turn in its history. We have lived in a momentous time where we have witnessed the first African-American take the office of president.—Anne Rivera
This year's election means the world to me as a person and slightly more as an African American woman. It was actually not that long ago that we, as African Americans, won the right to vote. Now we’ve progressed this far to having a president that can represent us for a change. Although Barack Obama has a bi-racial background, he does not deny that he has is of African descent: his father Kenyan.
This election also means that America has progressed as a country since the 1960’s. There has been so much activism and hard work put into making sure that we all as humans have equal rights, no matter what our race, color, or creed. Now the hard work has finally paid off. It makes me proud for once to be an African American in the United States.
I have a new sense of pride about myself now. I feel that there is nothing in this world that can bring me down except myself. I also feel a strong sense to be better than myself and work to standards that I felt I could never reach before. I no longer look down or feel insignificant when I see whites or any other race that is not my own. I hold my head high with the feeling that I am beneath, below, or subservient to none.
I feel this is the closest that blacks as well as whites have ever been since the civil rights movements. I feel we all banded together and unified in a way that seemed impossible. So there is essentially only one word that I feel when I think of this years election, and that word is pride--in my nation and in myself.-- Jazmin Arrington
Sheena Quashie, Anne Rivera, and Jazmin Arrington are Rutgers-Newark students. Posted November 2008.
