Ba(rock) the White House!

My host sister, Christina Carney (Shout-out!) asked me a good question in my last posting of that Obama propaganda. She asked what Salvador's reaction was to the election.

Since well before the election, there seemed to be overwhelming support for Obama. Of course , it is note-worthy that a lot of the pro-Obama sentiment had nothing to do with Obama and more to do with Brazilians' profound hate for Bush and his war.

One of the most interesting things I saw was about a month before the election, these ads popped up all over the place, at the malls (Shopping Barra) and at bus stops of Obama and the phrase "O Poder Mudou", "The Power Has Shifted". Initially, the ads had no name or person affiliated with them but after about a week up, with people buzzing about the ads, the ad turned into the fake front page of a newspaper here called Correios whose new slogan is all about change (since they recently revamped the paper).

Since Obama's won, I've passed many people on the street talking about the election and Obama and its been mostly good. I wont lie though, I've always said that black people are their own worst critics and racists and there are plenty of people here who are definitely hating. One old -crazy- black man on the street said to me, "Who cares. Bush, Obama, same thing! We're still all gonna die from the crisis." Hater.

One thing Ive said to many people here, and they all seem to agree, is that Obama is not a miracle worker. In reality, he may not be able to change that much, however for all the black boys and girls, men and women in England, Peru, Somalia, Ghana, the US, Brazil... everywhere, who feel under appreciated, weak, unimportant, invaluable because of they are black, this is a great victory. For the media who loves to propagate stereotypes of us as gangsters, ignorant hustlers, maids, not-as-beautiful, always the sidekick, never the star, Obama's confident, articulate, intelligent, fine ass is something the media cannot deny nor ignore. He's like two scoops of (foine!) chocolate with the nuts. Gostosooooooo.

And on that note, I'm finally as proud to be American, as I am to be Haitian.

God Bless the first and only country self-liberated from slavery. The True Quilombo Country.
&

God Bless the Country where opportunities and change are not just dreams but a reality.

Deus abençoa Obama!

Axe: Rachel