Next Up: Getting My Obama T-Shirt

Whew. That was a hectic few days. A lot of tears were almost-shed. Ok, I'm lie-telling. When the First Couple danced I cried a little. It's that black love...

My dumb ass missed the actual swearing-in: I was asleep, but I woke up in the middle of his speech and STILL got goosebumps. Then, later on at work, I youtubed the oath (*cringes at the awkward mess-up*) and watched a live-feed of the ball.

Ponder: there are big-screen TVs EVERYWHERE at work, yet I still had to watch the festivities on the internet during halftime of the game I was supposed to be watching. While getting furtive glances from my melanin-deprived co-workers. I was semi-loud, too, saying stuff like, "Ooh, look at Michelle's dress!" and "Aww, they're dancing" and "Omg Sasha and Malia are too CUTE." In my head I was thinking, "I DARE any of you to say something. NOT today."

Plus I had on my "Super Obama" pin.

Of course there are still some racist people out there saying dumb things, but that still doesn't change the fact that he's EVERYONE'S president...Obama is the, if I may be so bold, HBIC, and there ain't nothing y'all can do about it.

I can't help but feeling a crazy amount of pride about being black. For the longest time, a black president was this faraway, "someday" notion--a someday that no one but the most idealistic among us could see. It was the last threshold across which a black person could not or had not step. And I think it gave some people security: "Whew, black people are coming up, but we've still got the presidency." Well, not anymore. We are LEGIT, dammit. Too legit, in fact, to quit.

In terms of race, things are clearly nowhere near perfect. But all this, I think, allows for discussions about race to be had that white people/the majority never had to have before, which can only be a good thing. Where we could once push race under the rug, it is now front and center, unavoidable because the highest power in the free world belongs to a man with brown skin (like me!). Hopefully these developments will not only cast black people in a better light and change perceptions of us, but open the door for thoughtful discussions about race in which there is no right or wrong, no "why do black people do this or that" but honest dialogue.

My dad has an old, yellowed newspaper in the basement from the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison. Today I bought one of Barack Hussein Obama being sworn in as the first black president of the United States.

Welcome to the White House, Mr. President. We've been waiting for you.