Posted by TRAVERS for BET’s YOU(th) VOTE

January 20, 2009

Washington, D.C. 

January 20, 2009

Dear Babies,

I don’t know your names, and we are yet to meet, but I just want you to know this one thing—your daddy was there. I was there at the exact moment that the world changed forever. 

By the time you read this, it may be hard for you to imagine me as anything but your “old man,” but as I write to you I am a 22-year-old recent college graduate who lives in New York City, and is currently in Washington , D.C.  I may be young right now, but I’ve already seen a lot in my lifetime.  I have witnessed the horror of the World Trade Center attacks, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, and the dawn of a new millennium.  I remember the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the funeral of Pope John Paul II, and what the internet was like before YouTube and Facebook .  In my personal life I’ve experienced many triumphs and joys, and have also had my share of failures and sadness.  But I never expected to see what I saw on Tuesday, January 20, 2009—the day that the world changed forever.

You see, that was the day that President-elect Barack Obama became President Barack Obama.  That was the day that he and his beautiful wife Michelle and their lovely daughters Sasha and Malia walked onto that platform on the United States Capitol to accept their victory, the world’s victory.  On this day at 12 noon, the world stood still in amazement, and then erupted in cheers of hope and elation. 

Growing up in my small hometown of Quitman, Texas, people would always say, “Travers, you’re going to be President one day.”  Now, don’t get your hopes up, because I have no desire to hold that position. But it wasn’t until today, the day that the world changed forever, that I truly believed—without any doubts, without any reservations—that I could.

So as I reflect on this exciting day, the image that is the most vivid to me is not that of President Obama with his hand on the Bible, or even the new First Lady standing by his side.   I am thinking of those two beautiful little black girls proudly looking at their father.

And I am visualizing that one day that could be you.

With love, your daddy,

Travers

22 years old

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