Below is the fusion of two emails Nana wrote his North American friends since Obama's election. I liked the world view it presented, and am pleased to be able to share it with you here. –JGR

If you compare the two countries, I have often told my American friends that Ghanaians are much more aware of world issues and much more involved in politics. Ghanaians, whether they be literate or not, will be at the polling stations on the day of our upcoming election in December.

Ghanaians, whether they be literate or not, can discuss world issues, and have informed opinions about events, and know more about what is going on in the world than the majority of Americans. Perhaps this latest election in the USA will be a turning point for that country. Perhaps, thanks to the heavy-handed interference of George Bush in countries like Iraq, maybe, just maybe, Americans will begin once again to take responsibility for ensuring that they receive "good governance" in the same way that they expect other countries to conduct themselves.

Of course, we live in a time of change. Barack Obama is half black, half white. Just like my children. His connection to Africa is much closer to this continent than it is for most black Americans. The world is becoming much more fluid, and so are the skin colors of people around the world. It is an interesting time in history to be living in this big world, and I am grateful each day for the opportunity to experience it from this location
Congratulations, America. And now the real work begins. It is a time for change. We have to hope so.
There was a celebration in our apartment this morning. Our daughter, Afua Sewaa brought out a bottle of bubbly for a champagne breakfast and we drank a toast to the successful election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America.
The toast was to honor many hopes. The world joins Americans in hoping for a return to sanity after two terms of corruption and mayhem which caused tremendous economic and social destruction and caused the loss of untold lives of people in those parts of the world in which the Bush regime sought to intrude.
There is a hope that the American people will end their uninvited interference in the internal affairs of foreign countries and turn inward to correct some of the shortcomings of their own society. There is a hope that Americans will recognize the negative impact of their protectionist trade practises on many struggling economies throughout the world and particularly here in Africa. There is a hope that America will follow the lead of so many other countries, including many here in Africa, by adopting social policies including medical care which will enable their own citizens to live a dignified life.

There is another reason for celebration---one which has special significance for families such as our own. The United States has followed the lead of this African country, Ghana, by electing a President who is half and half. Afua Sewaa correctly pointed to a past when people of color were on the bottom of the social ladder in North America, when people of color had no hope of rising to the same level in society as their fellow white citizens. Today there is new reason for hope that that situation can change. It is possible for a man of color to hold the most important office in one of the strongest countries in the world. If that can happen, then many other hopes are also possible.

We join our American friends, here in Africa, and back in the United States. We raise our glasses in a toast to a future world of all possibilities. Cheers!

Yesterday in St. Louis there was a record turnout of voters, rising into the 70th percentile. In my morning journey to the voting box, I waited over an hour...while it's reported that some folks waited as long as 8 hours for the privilege to vote. The line was integrated, young and old, black and white. There was orderly, hushed, expectation, like the church we entered to cast our votes. We were standing in the church of American Democracy, and filled with hope.

Later, that evening in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, at the Democratic election watch party, in a ballroom filled with Obama supporters, the crowd went wild when the election was declared in Obama's favor. Screaming, jumping up and down, hugging, and crying, we celebrated together...black and white together...young and old together...in the most integrated event I've attended in St. Louis.

Two young black boys, twins, sitting on the floor next to me, executed a victory dance before we all stood up to cheer. In the joyous faces and bodies of those two boys, I felt an embodiment of the promise Obama holds for the African-American community, the next generation, the country, and the world.

On my way out the door, as I headed home to watch the rest of the analysis on my TV at home, I saw a black woman ready to jump out of her skin with jubilation. I reached out and hugged her to me, hard. As she thanked me, and I thanked her, she said, "We're gonna work together, now, aren't we?" and pointed back and forth between the two of us, representing some of the healing that has occurred in the racial divide in the United States.

With a black man passing by, we both acknowledged what a great night it was. "Yes, a wonderful night," he said. And, it was...along with Obama's speech with its emphasis on the full scope of history that has brought his to this place.

So, no, Langston didn't live long enough to see this night. But, he was part of it as he raised up his strong voice in favor of greater justice.

Langston didn't live long enough, and Barack's grandmother passed away just two short days before witnessing this day.

But 106 year old Ann Nixon Cooper of Tennesee did. Click this link to learn more.

Go to NY Times link here to read and hear voices from five leading contemporary poets commenting in verse on the 2008 election.