Obama Amefaulu

Kenyatta, Mboya and Kibaki are overwhelmed with joy on hearing that K.A.N.U. had won the election. From the book “Kenyatta: A Photographic Biography” by Anthony Howarth.

This is the image that has been floating around in my head since Obama’s election victory and the resulting celebrations. It is one of those iconic images I remember from my childhood that condenses the import of a certain moment in history. Something in the image speaks to the start of a new era, to overwhelming joy that what seemed impossible to visualize at some point has come to pass.

If I was more eloquent, I would be able to describe why a historic image from independence-era Kenya can stand in for a just completed election in the United States. I would be able to discuss the complex relationship between Kenya and the United States, about how Kenya saw fit to declare a national holiday to celebrate the results of an American election. But, for now, I will just let that picture stand in for all those words and for how I feel.