The election of Barack Obama was a defining moment in the history of America. But, more importantly it was a defining moment in history for me. This was the bench mark for real change in America, when we as a people demonstrated that no matter what the obstacles are and no matter how high the mountain was to climb we could climb it.

Since the first Africans came to this country as slaves, Africans, negroes, Black folks or African Americans have always done what we always do. Survive! We have always survived under both the best and worst of the obstacles that others laid before us. We have survived even when we have been our greatest obstacle and not only have we survived but we have WON!

President Elect Barack Obama is but a reflection of the great history and tradition that we as African Americans have and always will be. As I am sitting here writing this 'Talk To Danny,' and telling our Religion Editor (Nielle Anderson) what I am writing about, she just asked me "am I part of that group who believes we no longer need to sing the song WE SHALL OVERCOME"?) Well my answer is no. We still need to sing that song, we need to sing it louder and prouder than we ever have before. Because my brothers and sisters, We Shall Overcome. But we have not yet overcome. Our community is still devastated with record unemployment, a lack of quality goods and services that other communities take for granted. We still have too much drug use, too much crime, and too many things, which pull our community down, politically, socially, spiritually and institutionally and we are still too divided. We have too many political camps which fight each other but lose site of the fact that these districts crossover and we need to serve all the people-not only the people who voted for me but the people who voted for the other guy as well.

That is the message of the Barack Obama campaign. That is the message of CHANGE. That is the dream and the HOPE that we all bought into when we were willing to give $5.00 on the internet to support the campaign. That is the dream we bought into when we were willing to use our own cell phones to call Nevada and Colorado and any other swing state to insure this victory. That is the dream we wear on our chest every time we put on a Barack Obama T-Shirt (from the campaign or the bootleg vendor on Crenshaw), or a Barack Obama Button. That is the message we have bought into each and every time you buy a Sentinel paper with Barack, Michelle or the First Family on the cover.

So I encourage all of you, let's not only embrace CHANGE, but let's Believe in CHANGE. Let's be willing to live CHANGE. Let's be willing to stretch our minds, our hearts and our souls and work together for the good of our community and for our people, because until we do that we are just wearing the T-Shirt and not living "The Dream."

So, whether you agree or disagree, now more than ever I really need your input. I need to hear from you. I need to know what is going on in our community. I also need to know what other stories we need to tell, and what is on your mind. I really do want to hear from you, I want you to "Talk to Danny."

God Bless You,

Danny J. Bakewell, Jr.

President & Executive Editor

www.lasentinel.net

Last update: 11-20-2008 02:18

Published in : Executive Editor Blog, Talk To Danny

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