I am not sure if it has fully sunken in that Barack Obama is our next President of the United States.  I am truly overwhelmed with emotion. I have not been able to stop crying since CNN announced Obama’s victory last night.  I initially planned to head home around 10 pm, but decided to stay to experience this moment with all the wonderful people who came out.  I didn’t want to miss a beat.  I knew that we were on the road to victory when Pennsylvania and Ohio turned blue.  Yet, I was not prepared for my reaction when CNN called Obama’s victory.  I completely lost it.

I was emotionally detached for most of the day.  I dropped in on many polling locations throughout Northeast Philadelphia to get a sense of how people were feeling and whether they were having any issues.  I was also able to drop in and take pictures at most Obama campaign offices.  Final destination – Rum Bar for the watch party.  We started filling up around 9pm (PA polls closed at 8pm EST).  Great conversations were had by all and the drinks were definitely flowing. I have the hangover to prove it.  I was excited and deeply honored to share in this moment with those in attendance.  I also feel considerably fortunate to have had the opportunity to share this moment  with my Twitter family and my brothers and sisters in Europe through the Black Women in Europe LiveBlog.

As I settled down for the night, sandwiched between my puppy and kitty (who were unprecedentedly civil with each other), I took some time to reflect on the awesomeness of this historic event.  I had to sleep on it before I could think clear enough to pull my words and thoughts together.  I drove to Center City Philadelphia today for a meeting.  As I approached the city skyline, I noticed that the world seemed different.  Philadelphia looked the same, but something felt different.  I immediately thought of sense of possibility and determination that propelled thousands of individuals the Eastern Bloc to challenge the status quo.  It also reminded me of a song that dominated the German airwaves as the Berlin Wall came down:

My support of Obama’s candidacy has always been twofold: intellectual and emotional.  I truly believe Obama is the best choice for America, and clearly, much of America agrees.  His election is also profoundly personal for me.  It speaks to the awesomeness that is America, despite our flaws.  This could have never happened at home in Germany.

Oddly enough, my initial thought was to call my birthfather.  I knew that he would understand how emotionally profound this moment is for me without my having to explain it.  I wonder if the color of our skin will always be our only common ground.

Barack Obama’s election is not only a mandate for his vision of what America should and could be, but also a mandate for all of us – Republican, Democrat and Independent – that our vision and mission towards a better tomorrow is the righteous path. He called upon all of us in his victory speech to carry the torch for change in our own communities:

“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.”

This is a transformational moment that transcends all measure.  It brings me back to how I felt when the Berlin Wall and the Inter-German Border crumbled.   The passion, vision and conviction of those who have the capacity to see beyond the horizon of the present.  A time where thirst for freedom and humanity outweighed fear and uncertainty.  I am humbled that I am alive and old enough to understand the profundity of both of these events.  I am excited to witness and participate in the many ways in which I believe Americans will begin to unite and transform our communities.

I used to feel that I missed out on historic and transformational moments, that I was born at the wrong time.  I missed the Civil Rights era of the 1960s. I missed the birth of the AfroGerman movement in Germany. I missed the era of Gloria Steinem, Langston Hughes, Audre Lorde and Martin Luther King, Jr.  However, I have come to realize that  while we share in and are indebted to that legacy, our time is NOW! My moment is THIS moment!  I am grateful to be a part of these watershed moments of my generation – the collapse of the Iron Curtain and (re)unification of Germany, the end of Apartheid in South Africa, and America electing its very first Black President. It does not get any better than this!