I Keep Crying - Great Post-Election Videos

When I see scenes of these crowds of people celebrating Obama's victory, I cry. I can't help it. I am so emotional about this. This election result is a victory for everyone. Here in London, people keep coming up to me and congratulating me.

My fellow AfroSpear member African American Political Pundit (AAPP) made these videos of people the day after Election Day:

The status quo has been shaken to its very core.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-d4em0tHc8

First Time Voter Aged 60+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilpqwSGEDZ4

Young Black Voters Barack the Vote
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RUzhcCnCW5c

Interview with a Woman Soldier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0bYxBBEonA

Here are some more interesting videos. Like Whoopi Goldberg, and a lot of other people, I did not, in my heart of hearts, believe I would see this day in my lifetime.

The View on Obama
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AG2SmyO4YQc&NR=1

Mobs of people in Washington, DC celebrate Obama’s Win
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=n8qcjVa_jjw&NR=1

Just goes to show that anything is possible. There are no limits to what we can achieve. Just like I'm always saying. Turns out it's true!

Check out my book Success Strategies for Black People.

Happy Birthday, America!

President Obama. The sound of this is resonating in my ears.

Got up at 5:30 this morning and turned on the TV. When I saw the news, I started to cry. I was so emotional. All these crowds cheering Obama.

This truly is a new day. A new dawn.

On a level, I realise, I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. A Black man in the White House. Now anything is possible.

Whole new possibilities have opened up. Things that were not conceivable yesterday can happen now. I felt like this when apartheid ended in South Africa and Nelson Mandela was elected. I feel it even more strongly now.

For the first time, I care about what the First Lady is wearing. I care about how she will decorate. We have a Black First Lady in the White House now.

When Michelle Obama tells her children they can grow up to be President, she really means it. And now, the rest of us can mean it too.

Obama had 93% of the African American vote, along with 40% of the white vote.

African Americans are full citizens at last. We can participate fully in the electoral process. We have the power to bring about change. And we have used our power.

At last, I feel proud to be American.

Well done, America. Congratulations. You have finally come of age.

Polling Day

I went to the doctor's this morning and he said, "Make sure you get it right this time. I've emailed all my American friends and told them to get it right this time." He also said, "It would have made a huge difference if Al Gore had won". And he is a white Englishman.

The whole world is watching the U.S. election today, even more than usual. The whole world could be affected by the outcome.

I've been speaking to friends and family on the other side of the pond, who tell me they feel both excited and apprehensive.

1) First, there are the mechanics of the voting process. Will they have to queue for hours? This could be very stressful, both for the voters and for those running the polling stations. Reports of understaffing are circulating. What if fights break out?

I don’t think anybody anticipated this high voter turnout, and the polling stations are unprepared for this.

Lawyers have been hired to help support fair voting practices. I am imagining teams of lawyers like SWAT teams swooping in to investigate. Who knew U.S. elections could be so exciting?

2) Will the voting machines work? Oprah’s experience suggests this could be a problem. How many other voters will struggle with this one? If an African American billionaire, the most influential woman on the planet, cannot cast her vote, what hope do the rest of us have?

Lots of problems in Nevada. Are the CSIs onto this?

3) The papers are saying Black people will riot if Obama doesn’t win. I say, yeah, right. But with record numbers of young people voting, maybe this is a real possibility.

Surely the time to riot was when Bush got put in the White House the first time without being elected.

So what’s going to happen? How was it for you? Phone in to my show tonight to share your opinions and experiences. http://www.blacksuccess1.com/radioshow.htm

My friend Adrianne George from Black Women in Europe is going to be up all night talking about the election. She has invited me (yeah, me!) to join her for part of that discussion. It starts at 8:00 UK time (so clashes with my show), but it will go on all night. To watch the live blog, visit:

Obama - Your Chance to Air Your Views

As the author of Black Success Stories and Success Strategies for Black People, I am well aware of the psychological effects of positive role models. We all need to have achievers to look up to, who demonstrate the fact that we can do it, we can achieve our goals.

Some would say that the Presidency of the United States is the most important, most powerful and most influential position in the world.

My question is, if Senator Obama is elected as President of the United States, what difference will this make to your day-to-day life?

I am looking to hear from people of African heritage, both within and outside the U.S. If Barack Obama is elected, how will this affect your:

• home
• family
• health
• job
• business?

Please phone in my Success Strategies radio show Tuesday 8th July. Click here for details.

Obama and Mental Health

I saw this online the other day.

One effect of Senator Obama’s achievement the potential it has to impact positively on our mental health.

Positive role models give us a sense of what we are capable of achieving.

As people of African heritage, we have been force-fed negative images of ourselves for many generations.

We have internalised this negativity and we have passed it down, parent to child, over the course of many generations. This is part of what is known as “Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome”.

We are a very damaged people and we need to do a lot of healing, individually and collectively.

We don’t know if Senator Obama is going to win the Presidential election yet. Even if he does, we don’t know what kind of President he will be.

Sen. Obama’s nomination may well have positive reverberations for African people all over the world – and, in fact, for all people, regardless of racial or cultural background or heritage.

But someone does not have to win the Democratic Presidential nomination in order to be a positive role model.

And anytime a person of African heritage achieves a goal or accomplishes some success, that person becomes a positive role model. This is why I have collected Black Success Stories. This is why I publish More Black Success. And this is why I celebrate Black success on my "Success Strategies" radio show.

Since the dawn of time, human beings have shared stories as a way of communicating important lessons. People have used stories to teach important truths, and to learn those truths.

Stories of African achievement contribute to our sense of wellbeing and positive self-esteem.

We all need to see positive reflections of ourselves. As people of African heritage, still recovering from the effects of enslavement and colonization, we particularly need to be reflected positively. This is a crucial part of our healing process. It is down to each and every one of us to continue to foster, promote and support this healing process, from which we can all benefit.

We live in amazing times. These are times of great potential for transformation. Anything is possible. The sky’s the limit. The time is now.

Oprah Backs Obama's Campaign

Oprah Winfrey has been named as the most influential woman in the world. This is the first time Oprah has ever backed a political campaign.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071209/twl-us-vote-2008-entertainment-oprah-2802f3e.html

To read about Oprah and other successful Black people, click here.