History Making

Today is a monumental day in US history so for all OMG'ers outside the US please indulge us. We may ask this favor 2 more times, so mark your calendar for day in November and one in January 2009.

Today Barack Obama accepts the Democratic National Committee's nomination as the Democratic candidate for the 2008 US Presidential election. Obama will be the first African American Presidential candidate from a major party in the history of the United States. His speech and acceptance falls on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech .

It was that speech were Dr. King raised the public consciousness of the civil rights movement. He campaigned for the civil rights and racial equality, it became more than just racial equality it became equality for ALL people. And the need is still there today.

Change comes, and the need for change continues. It must continue. There are days when we want change to happen faster and sometime we forget how far we've come, when look ahead and see how far we have to go.

It took one hundred years for Martin Luther King to come before the nation after the Civil War, and less than half that to have Barack Obama running for the highest office in the United States. Change takes time, and this still much change to do. The barriers are coming down faster and faster every day.

It is participating the system of the electorate that help bring those leaders and legislation to make changes. It is a civic duty wherever you are around the world, to participate help shape the world we live in through the leadership we elect. It is not the only responsibility we have as world citizens to bring change but one that must be at the top of the list. What will you do?

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores
and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can. Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized;
women who reached for the ballots;
a President who chose the moon as our new frontier;
and a King who took us to the mountain-top and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.

We know the battle ahead will be long,
but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way,
nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We want change!

- Barack Obama

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'" Rev. Martin Luther King

Video: Yes We Can

Out Spotlight XXXIII

Keith Boykin is the editor of The Daily Voice newspaper, daily news source for African American/Black Community in the U.S. He is also a host of the BET television show My Two Cents, a New York Times best-selling author of three books, and a frequent political commentator on CNN. Keith Boykin is a the story of success not only in the African American community, the powerful world of politics but the GLBT community as well.

Graduating Dartmouth College in 1987, Keith spent a year and a half working for Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign and before attending Harvard Law School, where he was a leader in the campus movement and general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. One of his classmates at Harvard was current U.S. Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. Keith served in the White House as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton. After Clinton's election, Boykin became a Special Assistant to the President and Director of Specialty Media. Once the highest-ranking openly gay person in the Clinton White House, Boykin helped organize and participated in the nation's first meeting between gay and lesbian leaders and a U.S. President. He left his position in the White House to write his first book, One More River to Cross.

He has been actively involved in progressive causes since he worked on his first congressional campaign while still a student in high school. He is a veteran of six political campaigns, including two presidential campaigns, and he was named one of the top instructors when he taught political science at American University in Washington.

In 2004, Keith launched his media career as a star on the Showtime television series "American Candidate." Since then, he has appeared on Anderson Cooper 360, The O'Reilly Factor, The Tyra Banks Show, The Montel Williams Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and on numerous other television and radio programs. He has been selected as one of The Advocate Magazine's 10 "people of the year" and as one of Instinct Magazine's 25 "leading men" of 2005. In 2004 and again in 2006, he was one of Out Magazine's 100 most intriguing people.

A founder and first board president of the National Black Justice Coalition, a Washington-based civil rights organization dedicated to fighting racism and homophobia. He has spoken to audiences, large and small, all across the world. He delivered a landmark speech to 200,000 people at the Millennium March on Washington and as well as one about the AIDS epidemic in front of 40,000 people in Chicago's Soldier Field in July 2006.

Each of his three books has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, including his most recent book, Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America. Keith won the Lambda Literary Award for his second book, Respecting The Soul: Daily Reflections for Black Lesbian and Gays, while his first book, One More River to Cross, is taught in colleges and universities throughout the country.

Boykin won a Gold in wrestling at the 2006 Gay Games, where he competed in the 82 kilo division

Keith is an associate producer of the 2007 feature film Dirty Laundry, nominated for a GLAAD media award, and is working on his fourth book.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Keith currently lives in New York City with his life partner Nathan Hale Williams, former model, actor,film and television producer, entertainment attorney and the founder of iN-HALE Entertainment.

Star Light, Star Can't Shine Bright?

Does Jake have to dim so that another star can shine?

You know what is missed - Jake's activism. Yes. he signed a kite for the Kite Runner and gave a lunch with him for the ACLU . But it is things like , Jake championing Get out to Vote like did in the past election. We know Jake is politically and socially active - he was raised in a politically and social conscious home, are we just not allowed to see that anymore? Has that been taken off the table by TPTB? Or did he decide that on his own? Is he not allowed to outshine the People's Choice activism? It just seems like Jake is not allowed to show the well rounded confident man that he was, for fear it will distract from the shiny star next to him.


You Tube: Jake & Peter Rock the Vote