Thoughts by Elvis Mitchell, Producer of The Black List

There's one thing about 2009 that's self-evident. As of this year, and for the next four, Black History Month will no longer be relegated to February; every month is now Black History Month. In that way, this finally feels like the beginning of the 21st Century, with all of the well meaning sentiments about this nation pushing forward into the future. Just think of one immediate change: no longer will SpellCheck on computers flag the word "Obama" and offer replacements such as Bagman or Batman. Yes, the future has arrived and it feels new and strange, like the fresh breeze of a new romance.

We should savor and treasure these days, because as a country we may never see their like again,  though I have -- to use a word that has been worn thin to the point of transparency these days -- hope; the world feels ripe with possibility, the feeling that we as Americans have wanted to impart to other nations for far too long. Remember the way his election brought Americans together, made this country a community in a way that was the answer to the fear that made us huddle close in those days after September 11th, even given the economic straits that are just one of the legacies of the last White House occupants. The stirring -- no, truly exciting -- prospects that President Obama brings to this country are so moving to me, as they are to most Americans, I can barely gather my thoughts to articulate them.

One thing is clear: with those three striking, poised and charismatic African American females standing before the American public every day, it will be a new day for black women. I cannot imagine a country in which African American women, whose representation in the firmament of this country rarely receives its due, are ignored anymore. The First Lady, and her daughters offer a visibility and pride to black women not seen since Shirley Chisholm jammed her foot in the door over thirty years ago to signal Presidential potential, and whose staunch intelligence, grace under fire and cool logic made the possibility of bla ck President seem like a reality rather than just something to told to African American children to get us to finish our homework, vegetables and household chores; "One day, you can be President." (Just think of what her hat tossed willfully into the ring must've meant to a young guy growing with his grandparents in Hawaii, a place known then primarily for the flaunting of due process and civil rights by Steve McGarrett, a character whose book 'em philosophy seems to have been absorbed by an Administration tacking everything-must-go post-its on furniture it doesn't want moved to Crawford, Texas.) That black women will be seen as portents of American progress is the true exemplar of change.

Enjoy January 20th, and the thrilling to days to follow.