Why Obama was the Best Thing to Happen to Young, Black Millennials.

            My grandfather calls the house phone, he’s crying, my mom is ecstatic, it’s January 20th , 2009, and Barack Obama is being sworn in as President. I’m confused. Yes, I understand he’s the first black president, ok that’s great. Yes, I know Martin Luther King would be proud, this moment is, how did my 6th grade teacher put it, “monumental.”

            But no matter how much my 12 yr. old self wanted to make Obama’s election seem like something of grand prominence, I just couldn’t. I had little relation. Of course I still joined the hype, I wore my “Obama” cap to school to the awe of my classmates and texted my other equally artificially hyped friends in excitement as the inauguration went on.

            As we grew up, our interest moved from cartoons, and Gameboys, to myspace and parties. And while the excitement and tears of Obama had maybe dried up in older generations, it was just beginning to blossom in ours, the millennials.

            We begin to notice certain social constructs. Micro aggressions made by our innocent Caucasian friends, being followed by store workers, or even actually hearing someone else not scared to say the N word. It’s now 2012 and we have gone from young and oblivious, to still young but vigilant. We’re in our early years of high school and now see the discreet and unintentional segregation of high school cafeterias. We’ve read books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn and we now realize that us black people have really had it hard.

            Then it happened. The spark of our anger and the depths of our social world. One of “us,” a young black millennial, just as hyped as the rest of us to watch the 2012 NBA all star game, put on his hoodie, and went to the store, but he never returned. His name was Trayvon Martin, he was a black millennial. We now have become aware of the target on our backs.

            These tragedies became all to familiar. Our parents would have to give us talks, not just the birds and the bees, but also the cops and your color. “No sudden movements” “Do whatever they say,” “take your hood off,” they’d tell us, we began to feel trapped, hopeless.

            But throughout these years, no matter what injustice had been committed against us, we could always turn on the TV and see a sharply dressed, charismatic, black man who could’ve easily been our father, only he was the President of the United States.

            No matter how disheartened we may have felt, Obama gave us the most visual symbol of hope. For 8 years we could go to sleep knowing that the sky was the limit because we were represented at the highest level of government. If one of us could make it here, we could make it anywhere.

            Now, here we are 8 years removed from the innocent confused kids we were during Obama’s first inauguration. As we bask in his final moments as President, we come to realize that during our most vulnerable years, we all, in one way or another, looked up to him. He gave us an inherent confidence that grew as we did.

            As us young black millennials go on to change the world, our inspiration for success was rooted in Obama’s presidency, change is possible, hope is forever. And as the younger kids are confused as to why we're so emotional, tell them they'll understand in due time. Thank You, Obama, you will never be forgotten.