A moment of reflection on my vote

At 6:58 pm today, I proudly cast my vote for a black man to be President of the United States of America, an opportunity that - even just a two years ago - I never thought I would have.

I have obviously been very much looking forward to this vote, if just for the historic aspect (though there was definitely more to my excitement than that). However, I was surprised by how emotional I was about it after I did it. To be perfectly honest, when I walked out of our early voting location, I was near tears. I felt pride & joy, I felt awestruck by the historic opportunity, I felt empowered, I felt hope, I felt patriotic, I felt as if I had given my boys the chance for a brighter future, I felt like I had cast a blow to ignorance, intolerance, and the politics of destruction & the "dumbing down" of America, and I felt as if I had been able to exorcise some demons.

I grew up in the South, Tennessee, to be exact. I grew up in a culture of discrimination, surrounded by racisim and ignorance. And, as I kid, I mimicked what I heard. I'm not proud of that, but I am proud that I moved beyond that and have fought for years now for equality among every human. Tonight, I felt like that vote was the climax of that fight.

Ladies and Gentleman, tonight, once again, I am damn proud to be an American, and it feels good. I expect that this feeling is going to carry over in three days as we collectively make a giant stride in putting the divisiveness that had torn us apart for so long behind us. We finally have the chance to move forward - black hand and white hand joined - to a true "United" States of America.

As an aside, it was very important for me to take Jackson with me. I shared with you all that back in the primary in May, I was still undecided between Hillary and Barack when I walked in to vote. I had been staunchly pro-Hillary in the months leading up, but Barack had slowly won me over from the start of the primaries in January. What had pushed me over, though, to vote for him was that I was holding Jackson, looking at him, and trying to decide which one I thought would give him the brightest future, and I filled in my circle for Obama. Tonight, I held him again while voting, and just so he could have some symbolic part of my vote, I asked him to hold the pen while I inked in the circle. Then I gave him a high five as we turned in our ballot.