Last December, weeks before the Democratic primaries for that party’s presidential nominee commenced and while the argument that America was not ready for a Black president waged among African Americans, we urged Blacks to free themselves from mental slavery. That mental slavery brought about by the unfortunate experiences emanating from slavery, segregation and the perpetual effort to juxtapose positively among the other races. Then, Barack Obama won the Iowa caucus, a predominantly white state and indications appeared that Blacks believed that real change was possible - a Black man could really be president. Gradually, all over America there are now signs that Blacks could be freeing themselves from mental slavery, at last.

Indeed, this February 2008 may be the most significant February in America’s Black history. Unpredicted by most people Obama, during this month of February alone, has won over 20 contests in the race for the Democratic nomination. Remarkably, he won in several states like Idaho, Utah, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Maine, states without significant black voters. Since winning Iowa, Obama has commanded an average of over 80 percent of the Black vote and has also been getting significant support from white voters. Obama is now seriously poised to be the Democratic nominee because he has bridged the racial divide without even making race a platform for his nomination.

Interestingly, last year when the Democratic Party announced its candidates for presidency, polls indicated that Blacks were significantly supporting Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, America’s so-called “first Black president.” Ironically, it was Bill who when he was inaugurated for his second term referred to the racial divide in America, as “America’s constant curve.” Yet, this was the same man, who obviously shocked by Obama’s victory in Iowa, injected race into the campaign although Obama never gave the indication hat he was running as a black candidate. Even after Obama won convincingly in South Carolina, Bill sought to marginalize Obama, comparing his victory to Jesse Jackson’s in that state in a previous primary – a message that Obama would only do well in a heavily populated Black state.

After Bill’s racial comments it was a joy to see Black America really making the attempt to free themselves from mental slavery, as they began to abandon Hillary Clinton and turn to Obama, who they realized after all would be the true first black president. What is most significant is that most Blacks, like people of other races all over the country, support Obama not just because he is black but because he offers real hope and change - this positions him well above his rivals. Perhaps for the first time in America’s history there is someone, a black someone, who stands a genuine chance to seriously narrow the nation’s racial divide because he has succeeded in putting together a multi-racial coalition.

It is now possible that the bitter struggles for freedom from slavery and segregation undertaken by black heroes like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, W. E. B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King; presidents like Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and all the others who sought for black civil rights, are coming to fruition. It is possible that America could have not only its first elected Black president, one who embodies both African and white genes, but one who presides over a relatively racially unified country. If Obama were to not become the next president, he still would have done a lot in helping to remove the mental chains that were enslaving some Blacks, making it impossible to believe that “yes they can.”

The signs that these chains may have begun to be removed is in itself a historic achievement in Black history, and the fact that the chains are being broken by real hope offered by a Black man is extraordinary. Although there are some Blacks who do not support Obama, and that’s their democratic prerogative, they would be hypocritical if they did not concede that there has arisen from among us a leader such as America has rarely seen. A leader who instills confidence in black men, women and children, a leader who has succeeded in presenting a message, not tainted by race, to white America causing them to freely vote in large numbers for him.

In the future when America’s Black history is being reviewed these remarkable occurrences of February 2008 will be forever highlighted. It will stand as the time when black America made another significant step forward; the time when Blacks across this country believed that the highest limits could be attained; a time when white America believed that a Black man offering them hope, could realistically improve the standard of their lives; a time when, in accordance with the dream of Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr., it became possible that the diverse races of this country began to unite.

Similar to how Blacks find it regrettable that the rich history of Black America is boxed into the month of February, most are hoping that the changes inspired by Barack Obama, blossoming so beautifully this February and also boxed in here, will bloom abundantly in the ensuing months, particularly in November 2008.