Sophia & Her Two Nieces Alexandra (10) & Mikaela (6), at the Kid’s Inaugural Concert in honor of our U.S. Military Families

It is almost 2:00 a.m. on the day that our nation’s first African American President will be Inaugurated in about 10 hours from now. I am still up blogging and prepping for our early morning sojourn to the Nation’s Capitol from my home in Loudoun County Virginia.
Last night we had the privilege of attending the Kid’s Inaugural Concert at the Verizon Center in D.C. in honor of our Military families. First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters were in attendance, as well as grandma Robinson, Mrs. Jill Biden and her granddaughters. It was in incredible experience, despite the fact that my hearing in now shot (smiling) from thousands of screaming little girls and some very loud music offered up by Mylie Cyrus, Usher, Bow Wow, Jonas Brothers, and many others. Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, and Luci Lu were there as well.
The girls and their dad (my brother) are now fast asleep, as is their nini (grandma) and Aunt Sophia as ever, is restless and unable to sleep. I am so excited, stunned, awed, humbled, and optimistic about this country in a way I have not ever been before in my life. I just keep thinking about my ancestors, and Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Medger Evers, the Freedom Riders, Rep. John Lews, Jesse Jackson, Malcolm X, The Kennedys, President Johnson, A. Philip Randolph, WEB DuBouis, Richard Wright, Shirley Chisholm, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas and old Abe Lincoln to name just a few. They would all be so proud today.
Be clear, I have always been proud of my country, but something about what will take place today just chokes me up. Today America is reborn, and we become a nation true to our founding principles penned so long by a young, slave holding legislator from Virginia named Thomas Jefferson. On this special night, I wanted to share a few excerpts from the letter I wrote to my nieces on Election night 2008, while I was off the set of BET in the green room waiting to go back on air after a long night of political analysis and coverage of the historic campaign’s end. Since letter writing is back in as I mentioned the other day–here is some of what I wrote to them long hand at 10:37 PM EST, November 4, 2008:

Dearest Alex and Mikaela:
A few moments ago America elected its first black President of the United States. I am writing this letter to you because right here and now I am a first hand witness to history. For the both of you, this day has already come and gone –and by now you are both fast asleep as the new school day awaits you. Your generation will never fully grasp the magnitude of what America has done on this day–your generation will be the first ever in the history of this great nation to take for granted that a black man and/or a woman can run for President of the United States, be competitive, and win. . .
I did not want to miss this opportunity to share my thoughts with you on such a momentous occasion, as I like millions of other black Americans living today never ever thought we would see this day come in our lifetimes. It is a great day little ones–one that will forever be chronicled and remembered for as long as America is a free and proud nation. . .
You both, like our new President-elect Barack Obama are the product of a black father and a white mother. That makes you both very special and very unique. Although you may not yet understand the history of this moment and of this great Republic–it all started as a flawed nation; half slave and half free. Half black and half white. . .
If you both had been born 300, 200, or 100 years ago–you would have either been house slaves working on a plantation or Jim Crow babies living in the segregated south. You would have been dubbed “mulatto” and you would have been marked by whites and blacks alike because of your fair skin, straight hair, and keen features. You would have never imagined that a black woman would one day be First Lady of the United States. You would have never allowed yourselves to dream of such great things. Today, however, you are the true heirs of the dream that started on slave ships long long ago–you are both free, and untainted by the scourge of race and racism that has been for far too long the great stain on our Republic. . .
As I sit here tonight watching my fellow American celebrate in the streets, and around the world, I am awe struck. Speechless and the tears are falling as I write this letter. I know racism in its more subtle form–the kind that hurts your soul and mars your aspirations. My parents (your grandparents and great grandparents) know racism and hatred in its most insidious forms. Grandpa Smith (my mom’s dad) grew up in Alabama, he saw a man lynched once, and in horror and fear left home, joined the ARMY and never went back again until he died and was laid to rest. You will never know this kind of hatred–of this I am certain. Barack Obama’s election signals the fulfillment of the great “dream” in a major way. . .
You are both the light of my life. All that is good and pure in this world is in both of you every time I hear you laugh, or see your faces. I can think of nothing else but the two of you at this moment. I love you both. I am proud of you and I feel at peace knowing that you will grow up in a better, more perfect America than the one I grew up in. That makes me smile because as two bi-racial women one day you may no longer be viewed as just “black women”–your mother is white, your father black. Maybe by then, America will have done away with labels and just classify people correctly as they should be: as human beings.
Love,
Aunt Sophia