The Homecoming

It is a reality, but one so steeped in disbelief that it might ever occur, that it has an air of unreality about it. That the black community in the United States would finally, after suffering generations after generations of social atrocities, indignities, degradation and hopelessness, would finally see one of its own ascend to the pinnacle of political authority in America's seat of government. Who might have predicted that the year 2009 would usher in an entirely new social contract?

That the grand House built by black slaves would at this time house a black family, a forthright, audacious thinker, a man whose vision has been built on the determination and vision of those who preceded him, to address the nation as an equal, to promise them deliverance from their self-inflicted wounds. The seemingly impossible made possible by the ardent belief that all Americans invested in the man who proposed to himself to become their new leader, one who gave promise of a journey toward hope and the future.

It is so much a reality that, once the deep significance of the event seeped into the consciousness of the world, anticipation of a newly-realized United States of America - with an agenda to match the current internal and external difficulties the country faces - gives boundless hope to the waiting population. And, in the process, leads the rest of the world to caution, to wait, to watch, to share in that hope for a new vision and a new reality.

Some of which may come to fruition, and much of which may not. The potential internal changes to America's political structure, the justice of its social contract, its traditions and expectations for the future. Barak Obama, although representing as an extraordinarily gifted communicator - a man whose ability to mobilize support and enlighten voters' desperate need for change with his singular vision of a shared future - is, after all, only a man among others, however creatively cerebral he may prove to be.

Still, hope resides with his presidency in these difficult economic times, when America is mired in a two-front war abroad, and when her international relationships must veer toward some restoration of trust. The schedule and the monumental tasks awaiting this man are overwhelming, but which he appears to be prepared to meet, and that's all to the good. He presents as a man of the people, for the people of the United States of America.

Celebratory inauguration day festivities are being feverishly planned. "This is an inauguration for all Americans", graciously proclaimed Mr. Obama. "I wanted to make sure that we had an event that would be open to our new neighbourhood here in Washington, D.C., and also neighbourhoods across the country. Michelle and I look forward to joining our fellow Americans across the country during this very special event."

The impoverished and the elite of black America are invited to this grand spectacle hailing one of their own. He arrives with grand acclaim in the very city that voted 92% for one of their own. For the diverse black population of the capital city of the United States this is a long anticipated, never quite credible event, a homecoming.