A Letter to My Family

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008.  An unforgettable day filled with emotion and exuberance… The culmination of countless months of watching, more engaged in our country’s political process than ever before, following each new development almost unbelievingly as the young, relatively unknown Senator from Illinois came closer and closer to accomplishing what had never been done before. Tuesday night, as we sat riveted to the CNN tally of electoral votes, my only regret was that my daughter Ariyal was already asleep.

I had spent the day restraining my excitement about what everyone was predicting to be the likely outcome of this 2 year long race to the White House. The impact and meaning of Barack Obama ascending to the Presidency was the stuff of dreams for many of us who while pragmatic, hold dearly and deeply to certain ideals. Hence, over-excitement and overconfidence would have only made disappointment more painful and disheartening than can be imagined had John McCain been elected. But Tuesday night, as the votes rolled in, as more and more states presented themselves in favor of Obama, the restraint faded and excitement took hold.

Senator Barack Hussein Obama, 47 years of age, born to a Kenyan man and a white American mother, raised in the U.S. and Indonesia, a graduate of the venerable academic institutions of Columbia University and Harvard University, was elected and declared the 44th President-Elect of the United States of America.

He not only promises to bring change to America, he is change.

Eternal optimist and idealist though I may be, I believe the election of Barack Obama signifies a major shift in the world. He not only promises to bring change to America, he is change.

He changed the way campaigns will be run, he inspired and motivated more people to vote than have ever voted previously in an American election (~136 million votes), he truly spoke to the people of the country not just those typically involved in the political process, and he broke free of the entrenched model of campaigning to engage and enroll individual citizens to “own a piece of the campaign” through their individual contributions.

In his speech on Tuesday night, Barack spoke truthfully about the campaign and election belonging to the people… built on the individual contributions of $5, $10, $20, $25 donated by those who were inspired to take action… to do something to support what they believed. I, too, owned part of this campaign – albeit a small part – and am proud to have participated.

As a second-generation American (first generation Indian-American by some definitions) born to immigrant parents who worked hard to become citizens of this nation, this election has tremendous significance.  (Many of you who are reading this can share my perspective.)

Barack Obama’s election as President will do more to move and elevate people beyond prejudice than any other major event in the history of this nation

As TIME Magazine put it in a photo essay, Barack Obama is a “one-man melting pot.” Beyond his own biracial / multinational heritage, his half-sister is Indonesian-American married to a Chinese-Canadian and is a practicing Buddhist. He has half-brothers from Kenya and a grandmother (Sarah Obama, actually his father’s stepmother) who lives there still. To me that means he understands what it means to be an American and to have an international heritage. He understands and can see from the perspective of a minority, and can look beyond race (i.e. it is not a barrier or unknown to him).

I have experienced bigotry firsthand both as a victim of it, and as an observer of prejudices that are present in the minds and actions of many of our family members. Barack Obama’s election as President will do more to move and elevate people beyond prejudice than any other major event in the history of this nation.......... 

As an African-American, I believe Obama will inspire other African-Americans to look beyond their current state to a future filled with opportunity and possibilities. It is a future that has been there… but has been shrouded and hidden by clouds of doubt, fear, disbelief and disillusionment.

As a man of mixed heritage and ethnicity, he will open the eyes of all Americans by showing them – through his own actions – what being American means. Up until today, our older family members and even some of our contemporaries use the term “American” to refer specifically to our white, Anglo friends and colleagues. That was never an appropriate use of the word – a limited and limiting definition.  Now, it is clearer to everyone, what the word really means.

As a man of mixed heritage and ethnicity, he will open the eyes of all Americans by showing them – through his own actions – what being American means.

That clarity will also, in my opinion, do a lot to help the United States of America begin to regain respect around the world. In the 80’s, when I traveled to India, America was loved and exalted.  From the 90’s on (and more so over the last 8 years), our country began a notable, downward slide…Respect turned to disdain.

Americans have been painted by the brush of our political leaders and our interaction with the countries around the world. We have been seen as a people who think much of themselves but are somewhat hypocritical in that our actions do not reflect the values and virtues we espouse.

Barack Obama brings with him a philosophy that will address that “colored” perspective. He will unify Americans by engaging us all to become more involved in our country. My friends all know that I have embraced the notion of “building the sandbox you want to play in” as a philosophical framework for my involvement in the community we live in. Barack Obama is extending that notion to every American in the country.

While he unifies us internally, he will also engage the rest of the world in a thoughtful dialogue, seeking to end conflicts… so as to allow for the opportunity to find peaceful solutions to the friction and tension that plagues much of the world.

I am not generally cynical, but I am cautious.

On Tuesday night, I watched Barack Obama speak to every American while the world listened. I hung on every word and took to heart the promises he made. Oprah Winfrey and Jesse Jackson, and the other 125,000 people physically present in Chicago, were not the only ones brought nearly to tears that evening. I am not generally cynical, but I am cautious. I believe in Barack Obama because I believe in what he espouses and what his actions over the last two years have demonstrated.  I also believe in Barack Obama because I want to believe in the future that he has vowed to bring about for us.

It is a future in which a little girl named Ariyal Anita Jain can be proud, as an American, of the freedoms and opportunities that she enjoys. It is a future in which she can aspire to do and be anything, unrestricted by her ethnicity or gender, and lifted up by the numerous examples of success that will have paved a path for her and her generation. It is a future in which people will be inspired to take part as citizens in the betterment of their communities, their nation and their world.

Hope and change have been the words and goals that have propelled Barack Obama to this highest office, and for the sake of my daughter, I hope that he receives the continued support of all Americans to bring about the Change that he – and we – envision.

To all of you who took part in this year’s election—on behalf of my family—Thank you!