Yes we can.

Commentary by Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig

“This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, ‘My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.’”
   When Martin Luther King Jr. made his historic speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 45 years ago, the thought of a black man becoming president of the United States of America was just what King spoke of — a dream.
    That dream moved closer to reality last Thursday when Senator Barack Obama stood before more than 75,000 people who filled Denver’s Invesco Field — and millions more who watched on television — and became the first African American to be nominated by a major political party as its candidate for the nation’s top spot.
    There were hundreds of “watch parties” across the country, many of them in the Bay Area. Most were held at restaurants, bars or public venues where people could come together to watch Obama’s acceptance speech. They ate, drank and were merry — celebrating what is one more step in King’s dream becoming a reality.
    Yes we can.
    Not too far from the public celebrations, in the heart of East Oakland, 4-year-old Isaiah watched with awe at a smaller “party” as Obama walked to the podium to speak. His little brother, 3-year-old Isaac, stopped, too, if only briefly, and watched with their mothers the undeniably moving moment.
    “He’s our guy!” said Isaiah, eyes wide over the pomp and circumstances in Denver.
    The senator from Illinois even has impressed someone as young as Isaiah. The boy, whose adoption soon will be final, has asked for his middle name (mandatory in his Jewish faith) to be “Barach” after learning “Barack” (of Semitic origin) means “blessed” or “a blessing.”
    Yes we can.
    This journey that Obama is on isn’t just about a black man becoming president. It’s not only about creating change and dispelling the myths that 50 years ago said a black man would never be president to a few years ago, when people believed an African American could become president … one day.
    It’s about an almost 5-year-old of African descent believing he too can become president. Not hoping, not dreaming, but knowing that the job of our commander- in-chief is as attainable for him as his younger brother, who is white. It’s about being raised by a loving, white, lesbian couple who, like most Americans, live paycheck to paycheck, working hard each day to give their sons more than they had, and none of this being a factor in him leading this country if he someday chooses to do so.
    It’s about an African American man living in today’s society being able to touch the heart of a young African American boy — and even at such a young age, igniting a passion and belief that he can accomplish anything he wants to regardless of the color of his skin, the faith he claims, the fact that his married parents are both women and that he comes from middle-class America.
    It’s about really living in a nation where none of our children are judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
    Yes we can.
    Yes … we have.

Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig is an award-winning, professional journalist who resides in Oakland. If you have an individual, organization, issue or other topic that may be of interest to the Globe’s readers, contact her at  talk2mfc@yahoo.com.