Victory for Our Elders

By Saundra Bunton

My grandmother passed in July. She had been ill for a long time and I was thankful at the time that she was going to a better place, where her suffering would come to an end. Since then I have thought of her often but I have not experienced sorrow at her passing or wished she was here. Until today.

The victory of this election is not mine. Even though I voted, even though millions of other young people voted in record numbers, the victory belongs to none of us. It belongs instead to my grandmother and yours, to the men and women of her generation, to the people who suffered through Jim Crow and fought for a better life and world for all of us.

That world may not be here yet, but we would not be on the horizon of history had it not been for them.

I miss my grandmother today, because I know that all those years of humiliation and pain made her better equipped to appreciate this great triumph, and more deserving of this experience than I. I miss her because she was the type of woman who cheered for Black achievement no matter what they were trying to accomplish. I miss her because she knew fully what it meant to have the audacity to hope and because she inspired me from my core to always believe in the possibilities. I miss the excitement in her voice and the joy that would have been sure to come across her face.

If you are fortunate enough to have your grandparents or great-grandparents in your life, be sure to bask in the glow of this historic occasion with them, because we know in our minds what they are able to feel in their hearts. Remind them that their struggle was not in vain. Thank them for the trials and tribulations that they pushed through and the sacrifices that they made. Tell them that this victory is for them, this day that many of them never thought they would live to see and some of them did not. Allow them to inspire you with their stories and instill in you the lesson that what you do today will surely enhance tomorrow.