Happy for Black America

"Barack Obama’s election has awakened hopes in some black Americans that their existence will at last be officially recognized," writes Mary Hinton — A life affirmed. Speaking of "the very personal importance of this moment for past generations," she suggests that "none have the right to be as proud as those who were systematically excluded from participation in America, much less in the American dream." She concludes, "For them, Obama’s election represents not only the right to a dream, but also the right to simply be."

"As a conservative I have little use for Obama’s politics, but as an American and more specifically a Southerner, I think I can understand the excitement, particularly in the black community," wrote Jack Hunter, a.k.a. The Southern Avenger, a few weeks ago — Obama and Black Pride. I, too, "have little use for Obama’s politics," but I am happy to see my uncle, who went from being a janitor to the Ohio's richest Black businessman, happy. My only regret is that our second Black president is in many ways less Black than the first, being that the former's ancestry lies in East Africa and the latter's in the American South.