Dear Mr. President,

Words cannot express what you have meant to me, to our people, and to our country.

I remember when you roared onto the national stage as a Senator from Illinois at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Very few people even knew your name until that night. After that night, we all did.
I remember sitting in a hotel room, with tears streaming down my face, as the cadence of your voice washed over me. I found myself sitting straighter and feeling more hopeful. In that moment I turned to my partner and said emphatically, “That man will be our first African-American President.”
That truth reverberated in my soul, as I picked up the phone, called your office and offered my meager money and support as my heart beat quickly in my chest. With one brief speech, in support of another, you instilled hope, pride, and joy in so many people around the nation.
That hope, pride, and joy, became a cascade of excitement that propelled you throughout the next four years. I can’t imagine that very many people were truly surprised, when you became the Democratic Party Candidate for President of the United States in 2008.
I was privileged to be a delegate to that convention in Denver. My baby had just been born and he was nursing around the clock. Yet, my partner and I packed up both of our children and headed for Colorado. Once there, I proudly accepted my credentials, tied my son to my chest, took my seat on the convention floor, and roared with the crowd as we chanted YES WE CAN!
Yes we can; and yes we have.
Under your leadership, and with Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and Mama Robinson at your side, the United States of America has been given a new vision of the African-American family. You have stood as a pillar of strength and as a Black man who is obviously in love with his wife, devoted to his children, and grateful for his mother-in-law.
I can honestly say that as an African-American woman, it has always been my goal to have a partner who looks at me, the way you look at Michelle. It is clear that yours is a love that was born before time began. It is a partnership that took you all the way to the White House and around the world. It is a promise to have and to hold, in joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death separates you…
The love that you and Michelle share with each other and with your children, filled us with hope…
Thank you, Mr. President.
And your girls; what an inspiration! Malia and Sasha have taught an entire generation of black children that it is okay to be young, gifted, and black.
No longer do we believe the lie that to excel academically means that we are “trying to be white.” And thanks be to God, there are no more Oreos to be found!
We are not white on the inside and black on the outside when we excel in school. Instead, we are unabashedly and one hundred percent — black.
We can conquer the books and the playground. We can dribble a basketball and solve quadratic equations. We now know—and believe—that we are deserving of the hallowed halls of Harvard and of the White House. You have uplifted us, sir, and inspired each of us to be the very best that we can be.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thanks also for being a feminist man and a supporter of the LGBT community. You know, as well as I do, that our community has long retained sexists and homophobic notions that are harmful to our children.
I am so grateful that you were willing to challenge these notions and to use your platform to proclaim that women are as capable, strong, and able as any man. You and Michelle made space for women’s intellect, creativity, and confidence on the world stage, and many girls now have access to education, support, and a beautiful future because of your willingness to stand with us in the fight for equality.
You also spoke boldly on behalf of the LGBT community. It was under your administration that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was dismantled and that our brave men and women in uniform were allowed to serve our country with distinction and free to love as they were created by Almighty God.
Thank you, for making space in the national dialogue for the Supreme Court to affirm the right of all people, regardless of sexual orientation, to enjoy the blessings and benefits of marriage. We are now free to marry, raise children, and proudly proclaim that, “I am a beautiful creation of God and love always wins.”
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you also for being a visionary seer. You have been a voice crying in the wilderness, when so many people have refused to listen. Your loud voice and undying support of the environment will be one of your greatest legacies.
In word, thought, and deed you have sung about the beauty of our planet, the necessity of her protection, and our sacred duty to always and ever defend her forests, plains, and deserts from the greedy and corrupt corporations that would bleed her dry and destroy humanities only home.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Because of you, there are so many of us who are healthier, stronger, and more able to live rich, full lives, because of your undying commitment to defend the smallest, weakest, poorest, sickest, and most vulnerable amongst us.
ObamaCare has been a jewel in your crown. We will not allow anyone to mar your legacy. For we know, that without this legislation in 2010, so many of us would have been unable to access health care due to pre-existing conditions, inability to pay, or lack of access to employment sponsored programs.
And Michelle Obama’s commitment to decreasing childhood obesity, has emboldened the African American community to get our hair wet in gyms, pools, and fitness clubs as we have been sweating together around the nation!
Thank you, Mr. President.
Finally, thank you for being a model for all African-American people who are hated, reviled, disrespected, lied on, talked about, and attacked.
No matter what hateful people have lobbied at you, you held your head high. You never compromised your values and you continued to harbor a hope that made no kind of sense.
On your watch, the Black Lives Matters Movement was born. On your watch, we began to see our own faces in television commercials and weekly sitcoms. On your watch, African American music, history, and culture has been celebrated and affirmed in ways that we could not have dreamed of prior to your administration.
On your watch, the National Museum of African American History and Culture has been built and American citizens, of all ethnicities, have begun to wander the halls of the Smithsonian able to see a testament to the miracle of our people surviving when hope unborn had died.
Through the harsh realities of American chattel slavery, Jim Crow segregation, the American Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter Movement, you have stood as a visible testimony to our ancestors’ deepest desire and fondest wish for our residency in the United States of America.
Michelle Obama reminded our country that it was slave labor that built the White House. What a miracle that the blood, sweat, and tears of our ancestors ultimately created a home for you, Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and Mama Robinson, over two hundred years later.
Mr. President, as you leave office, please do so with our deepest and most heartfelt honor, devotion, and hope for the future.
I have no idea what you, Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and Mama Robinson will choose to do after next week. I do know that you deserve a vacation and all of the best that this life can offer to you!
On behalf of a grateful nation, I salute you.
You will always, and ever be, My President.
Well done, good and faithful servant,