Mr. Obama is now Mr. President-Elect

Sylvie Kim
November 5, 2008

Thumbnail image for 412px-BarackObama2005portrait.jpgIn case you've been living in a hole, the most historic U.S. presidential election and win went down last night. It's so historic, it made Rev. Jesse Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, and Sarah Palin weep on national television.

All jokes aside, I think few people can really articulate how powerful this moment is and what it means for a country beleaguered with economic, foreign policy, and morale woes such as ours. I am not one of those people, so I won't even try. I'll just encourage everyone to savor the afterglow, but not forget the propositions and measures we also voted for (and against) yesterday.

Currently, news outlets are reporting a lead for Proposition 8 which would ban same-sex marriages in the state of California. While a lot of Americans are feeling that the nation is making progress after the Obama win last night, this morning many Californians are dreading the possibility of a civil rights regression.

Votes are still being tallied, and my obsessive refreshing of news sites is giving me anxiety as I await the official results. I would hate to see this monumental election year marred by the passing of a discriminatory law.

Categories: 
News and Politics
Contributor: 

Sylvie Kim

contributing editor & blogger

Sylvie Kim is a contributing editor at Hyphen. She previously served as Hyphen's blog coeditor with erin Khue Ninh, film editor, and blog columnist.

She writes about gender, race, class and privilege in pop culture and media (fun fun fun!) at www.sylvie-kim.com and at SF Weekly's The Exhibitionist blog. Her work has also appeared on Racialicious and Salon.

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Comments

Comments

Harry wrote on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 9:11am
Obama's win is certainly a historic event. I once thought a non-white person would never be elected president.Obama changed my mind. He energized many more people to vote, including Asian Americans. Obama even mentioned Asian Americans in his speech.The electoral college wasn't even close. It brought Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey to tears. I'm just amazed. Are you?
Melissa wrote on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 9:27am
California is not the only state: Arizona also voted to ban same-sex marriages. Florida voters also passed an constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. It's already illegal there, but the amendment invalidates all other unions that are "treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent."Civil rights should be decided by the courts. If the general population had been allowed to vote on ballot measures banning interracial marriage, it would still probably be illegal in many states.What are the next steps in fighting this discrimination?
Melissa wrote on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 9:44am
Also, call me old-fashioned, but I don't think you should just be able to amend the constitution by a ballot measure whenever you feel like it. It boggles my mind that civil rights issues are on the ballot next to bond measures.
Relax wrote on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 7:12pm
Its was a beautiful moment. Being blasion made me feel so proud that the struggles of my ancestors finally paid off.The future is bright for any race to become President and I assure you, Governor BOBBY JINDAHL OF LOUISIANA is the future of the Republican party. He will be the next President when Obama terms are over. you heard it here first.
sylvie wrote on Thu, 11/06/2008 - 11:25am
The Chronicle says that the city of SF and some same-sex couples are filing lawsuits in the hopes of getting Prop 8 overturned.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/05/BA3B13UM63.DTL&type=politics