The one topic I have not dealt here has been the US elections, though not from lack of want. I’ve wanted to badly. In fact, so badly, I have exercised enormous restraint in order to remain nominally within the “Chinese box” that I have set myself in. But sometimes you just have to step out and swing at something else. Restraint has been particularly difficult for me over the past two-and-a-half months, particularly after John McCains’ cynical selection of his running mate, a choice that proved to the core that they didn’t “get it.” And ultimately this was their undoing.

A further mark of this disconnection was deeply embedded in John McCain’s concession speech.

“This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.”

The implications of this victory go far beyond the African-American community. They go to the very ideal heart of what America has imagined itself to be, even while it has not been. To explain that this victory has “special significance for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” proves that John McCain was fundamentally disconnected from what the United States has so desperately needed for as long as it has been a union. This was a victory of finally … finally rising above the empty rhetoric of high ideals. The United States can now say that it has squared itself with it’s Declaration of Independence where “all men are created equal,” and the subsequent terrible ‘silence’ of the Constitution where it was agreed that a slave was valued at three-fifths of a white male, and then only for the white male’s benefit: as a deflated number to tax and choose representatives in a single race, single sex national congress. (This is hardly judging the past from the comfort of the present; our history tells us very clearly that the voices who railed against these terrible inconsistencies were vocal and many at the time that this was all being hashed, though for the sake of ‘unity’ they swallowed their tongues.) It’s not often that we get to clear an ‘ideal’ and say, “Finally, we’ve gotten over this one.”

Here in this time of national crisis, we ended up electing an African American as president, the son of an immigrant, the most qualified of those who desired the position. It’s taken 221 years and millions of lives tragically lost to acts of unspeakable inhumanity, in order to make the critical correction at arguably the lowest point in our history – after eight years of executive pillage and crimes – to reach the point where we can look past the chains that the founding fathers shackled all of us with, not just African Americans. We have all, every shade and color, been diminished by a belief in an ideal that fell critically short of realization. This victory was of “special significance” to all of us, even for those who don’t yet understand it as such. We have all, finally, been freed, and that speaks to the possibility of America, where a member of a 13% minority can be elected by a clear majority to lead us into a very shaky future.

Now begins the real work, which I hope we are all up to.

I voted today, but it wasn’t easy. I’m going to try to make this short and sweet, but I want to preface this by reminding you that the previous 3 times I’ve tried to vote, I’ve been turned away by the election workers who state my name has not been on the registration rolls. I thereupon wrote to several newspapers telling how I was disenfranchised as a voter. I received a letter from the Secretary of State with notification that I was indeed on the rolls.

1. I was the only voter in the place. I was beset upon by a grumpy old man when I approached the table at the polling place. He demanded to know if I was 10 or 11. Demanded my photo I.D.
2. Replied, “I’m much older.”
3. He said I had to declare one or the other or I could not vote. I had no idea what he meant.A lady at the table said “It has to do with how you’re going to vote.” A lady at the table said “It has to do with how you’re going to vote.”
4. “You mean my party affiliation? I’m a democrat.”
5. I was sent to table 11. Another grumpy old man challenged my identity and made me produce 4 more pieces of ID.
6. I was told my name was not in the registry. I told them to look under my maiden name. They would not, seeing no cause to, whereupon, I pulled up a chair and declared I was not leaving until they let me vote. Memories of the 60′s and sit-in at the administration building at my university fill my head.
7. Staredown for 20 minutes while I urged them to find my name in the rolls.
8. Finally a woman looked under my maiden name (because my last name is hyphenated) and of course, there I was.
9. I was told they were out of ballots, though it was 8:30 a.m.
10. I sat down again, “I don’t believe you. It’s only 8:30 a.m. I know how folk in this county try to prevent democrats from voting. I’m not leaving until I vote.”
11. Staredown for 10 minutes.
12. Woman appears from behind a curtain with a ballot. The ballot is very large, larger than a menu, but the writing is very small. I can’t see it even with a magnifier. “I’m going to need help reading and marking this ballot. I’m visually impaired.”
13. “We can’t help you, we don’t know how,” said grumpy pants.
14. Surely you went to orientation and were shown how to help people with disabilities.
15. “Yes, but I can’t remember what they said to do.”
16. “Doesn’t matter,” says I. “I’ll show you how to help me.”
17. Staredown 3 minutes.
18. The lady who offered me the ballot, then offered to read the ballot to me and help me mark it.
19. I voted. It was 45 minutes later. I was still the only voter in the place, but I voted.

At the same poll, earlier that day, D. had no trouble. But he’s a man, and didn’t hobble in like a rickety old soul. Imagine what they do to elderly democrats who don’t face them down. — J. (Reprinted with permission.)