Perhaps the most remarkable reaction resulting from Barack Obama’s election to the American presidency is the sense of relief felt by African Americans.  It would under represent the significance of this reality to attribute this emotion to mere elation at the election of a black man.  Amongst those interviewed and seen there was a sense of real relief.  It was not the type of relief one gets from antacid or aspirin, but “soul relief”.

“Soul relief” occurs when doubts, fears and cynicisms that rest in the deepest element of the individual, the soul; suddenly vaporize.  For black folk, this type of soul unrest is something that permeates existence; often one step behind or in front, but always near enough to cast a shadow or be felt.  For too long, black people in America have held the belief and experienced the reality that there were pathways of the American Dream marked with signs saying, “No Blacks Allowed”.  This belief whether based on the expressed action of racism or a general perception that America was not quite ready to live up to her mantra that “all men are created equal”; was reality for many black Americans.

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