Biggest HALLELUJAH! Of Her Life

The seminal photo for me last week was one taken of Barack Obama moments before the television networks announced that he would be the 44th president of the United States. He was seated on one end of a couch in a hotel suite adjacent to Chicago’s Grant Park, looking a little dour, while his mother-in-law's arm extended from her perch at the other end of the couch, her care worn hand clasping the back of his shoulder, both of them staring at the television screen in front of them as if they could see their own futures.

Mrs. Robinson’s face was as familiar to me as the faces of the women who had managed the periphery of my youth. I recognized in her piercing eyes the power of all my surrogate mothers, from my aunts, and my neighbors, to the ladies who ran Vacation Bible School and the ladies who operated the neighborhood community centers in the summers. The determined resolve I saw in the tight clamp of her lips was a look I knew too well, as if she could barely keep hold of the emotions coursing through her body.

For all of her official reactions that were recorded for posterity by the photographer in that hotel suite last Tuesday night, there are other, more powerful displays of emotion that surely must have come later. Because the women I talked to over the last few days, black women who have the same grey hair, the same pursed lips, the same piercing eyes – my mother, my aunts, and an assortment of likeminded women who collectively raised me when I was a child – have been releasing the biggest HALLELUJAH of their lives the past few days.

Rappers may have popularized the phrase “make a dollar out of fifteen cents”, but these women have lived it, and in many cases are still living it as they oversee daycare centers, manage after school programs, and organize efforts to make sure that the children who often do without get to see a little sunshine in their lives sometimes.

I’ve read a hundred stories in these last few days since the election. Listened to countless broadcasts that tried to pinpoint the turning points in the campaign season that led to an Obama victory. Only one or two of the stories in print even acknowledged that Mrs. Robinson, who managed Mali, Sasha, and whatever else that could only be handled by her hands alone, had a role of any importance in the grand scheme of things.

So I’ll say it here – the ONLY reason Barack Obama can stand before you today as the next president of the United States is because of Mrs. Robinson.

"Brown Man Thinking Hard" Featured On TV One Election Coverage

Tonight, Brown Man Thinking Hard will be one of the featured political blogs on the TV ONE Election Night special. I'll be providing regular updates on last minute voter suppression efforts and voter reactions here in Georgia.

Silver Spring, MD -- TV One will offer comprehensive coverage of the Presidential election returns November 4, beginning at 7 PM ET, with Election Night 08: A Vote for Change, anchored by team members from its highly successful Democratic convention coverage in August.

With seven different remote locations around the country, including live cameras at the McCain and Obama headquarters and coverage from the Associated Press' national vote tally center, TV One is ready to document this historic night from all angles. Arthur Fennel and Joe Madison , of TV One DNC Coverage, return as host along with Jacque Reid anchoring from the TV One Election Newsroom. The anchor team will be joined by Tom Joyner, Michael Eric Dyson and more who will provide commentary all night long. Shawta Walcott, one of the top pollsters in the country, will be on board analyzing the votes and exit polling.

As the first polls close in the East at 7 pm (ET), TV One will be anchored in Sen. Obama's election night headquarters in Chicago, ground-zero for this historic event. In addition, Roland Martin, who TV One shares with CNN, will be reporting live from CNN Election Headquarters in New York.

This election is expected to have unprecedented turnout among young people and African-Americans, and TV One has responded with remote broadcasts from two colleges in battleground states: Florida A&M and North Carolina A&T . Here, we will hear and see first hand how these groups are responding to the election in real time.

Finally, TV One Online offers late breaking developments in the campaigns and around the world. A special correspondent in the Election Newsroom will be reporting what's going on online with the election in real time.

With news, analysis, insight and historical perspective, TV One will chronicle what could turn out to be the most important event in the African-American community in this century. TV One's election night promises to be one exiting and compelling ride.

Witness history take place only on TV One, November 4 at 7 pm (ET).

I've had a whole lot of fun with this blog since I started it. I hope all of you who read this blog regularly have enjoyed it half as much as I have. I can't think of a better way to have my efforts recognized than to be asked to participate in the national media coverage of the most important moment in black history in my lifetime.



NOTE: Shoot me an email at brownmanthinking at gmail dot com or comment on my blog if you want to express how you feel tonight - who knows, it might make the broadcast.