OBAMA: Our New President

In the Name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful...the Best Knower.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah,
And I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.


As-Salaam Alaikum (God's Peace be Unto You), All...

Well...where to begin?

Words are really inadequate to describe my sense of the profoundness of what we all witnessed and experienced last night (and during the months leading up to it) -- the election of the United States of America's first Black President -- Barack Obama!

I must admit that it was very moving to see the joy in black people's faces as they/we beheld what many believe is the Answer to generations of prayers from a suffering people for relief from exclusion, oppression, injustice and rejection by a country that we have loved and been loyal to almost since we were brought here in chains, over 400 years ago.

I was moved by the purity and the sincerity of the Spirit of our people who have been struggling for centuries for some kind of "victory" that would give us a sense of vindication...that we ARE Human Beings, and that we ARE entitled to the Best that this society has to offer, since this society took from us the Best that WE had to offer. It was wonderful to witness...to experience.

It was wonderful to walk the streets the next day (today), and know that people are seeing things a bit differently now. Black people are seeing themselves a bit differently. Other peoples are seeing Black people a bit differently...for better or for worse; but the difference is there. You can feel it...you can almost smell it in the air. A "Mighty Change" has begun in this country.

However, I couldn't help - thanks to the Insight given by the Hon. Louis Farrakhan - but to consider the "flip side" of this experience: the fact that there are literally millions of caucasian people (and others) who never believed, expected nor wanted to see Black People in America "free, justified and equal" in this society. How did THEY feel to see a Black Man "win" what they consider to be the "top seat" of Power in "their" country?

It is clear from recent news reports about racist hate-crimes in America -- including an alleged conspiracy to kill the now "President-Elect" by some "skin-head" types -- that there are those among white people (and PLENTY of them, apparently) who still hold sacred the idea of "white supremacy", and who vehemently oppose any notion of sharing power and authority with a segment of the population that they still consider their "property"...and consider to be the cause of the country's failing condition, whether they verbalize this attitude or not.

How will they handle their disappointment? How have they handled it in the past? How did they handle "Black Wall Street"? How did they handle Martin Luther King, Jr.? How did they handle John F. Kennedy?

As the "buzz" of the Election dissipates, and the reality of their disappointment becomes more acute (if it does), how will these people deal with their anxiety and grief? How will their attitudes toward Black People be affected? How will their BEHAVIOUR toward Black people be affected?

As I listened to the commentaries that followed shortly after the President-Elect's acceptance speech, it became clearer to me that our newly elected President is going to be faced with the very real problems that are now plaguing the United States, and with tremendous expectations from the people who are placing all their hopes on his ability to make America Secure, and Better.

Will he be able to make meaningful changes? Will he be able to live up to the expectations of the millions of Americans who are struggling, in pain, and in dire need of relief from the suffering imposed upon them by previous administrations?

President-Elect Obama has been written indellibly in the history of this Nation, and the world; but ...he has inherited a condition that will not be easy to alleviate, as he said, himself. Once the "wedding ceremony" and the "honeymoon" have passed, he then will be faced with the reality of the work that must be done if America is to be saved from the self-destructive path that his predecessors have put Her on.

What I also found very profound was the fact that the entire World had Its Eye on this race and Election...and the World witnessed a Black Man -- one of the "despised and rejected" -- ascend to that which is considered the "highest office" in the "mightiest nation" on the planet...bringing back to my remembrance the words of the Hon. Louis Farrakhan, that "...[Obama] is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better". The reactions shown of peoples around the globe certainly confirmed Minister Farrakhan's assessment.

Our New President-Elect has not only the hopes of the American people on his shoulders, but also the hopes of the World! He is going to need our prayers...and even more importantly, he is going to need the Divine Help and Protection of Almighty God, Himself!

...Which brings me to my most prevalent thought on this issue: Where is God's Hand in All of this?

Surely, nothing within the sphere of God's Power takes place but by His Active or Permissive Will. I would not be so foolish to try to speculate, openly, on "why" God brought about (or allowed) this election to turn out the way it did; but I have a feeling that we all will be made to understand His Will regarding this "miraculous" event, in the days ahead. This event is so "big", in my opinion, that I know it's going to take me some time to wrap my mind around it...and that's what I want to do..."wrap my mind around it"...to understand it...from God's Perspective; but I know that I, and We, must be patient.

In the meantime, I have to keep my focus on the practical issues that fill any given day of my life, while I hope in...and wait on...The Lord.

This is a great day (and "dreadful", potentially)...a "New Beginning", indeed.

May God Bless, Guide and Protect President-Elect Obama, His Family, Black People in America, and all People of Good Will.

RM