Tuesday night, June 10th, 2014 I hopped into a cab. As part of my cab riding ritual, I always make it a point to find out the country from which my driver comes.  On this particular ride, my driver was Sindhi and when I asked him where he was from, he responded, “Sindh.”  I was confused.

Initially, I believed he was from Pakistan so I asked him if he spoke Urdu.  He replied, “No. I speak Sindhi.”

He proceeded to explain the Sindhi’s journey to sovereignty to me and even handed me his iPhone 5 to show me a picture of his daughter wearing a traditional Sindhi cape.  My driver informed me that he was an anesthesiologist in his country, but what gave him a huge inflection in his voice was when he reflected that one day his country would be a sovereign nation again with its own leader.

“If America can elect Obama as its President, there is hope for Sindhi people, too.” NYC Sindhi cab driver

Beyond the fact that our 44th President, Barack Obama, will forever go down in history as America’s first African American president, he is still inspiring others with hope and making more history.

This Friday, June 13th, 2014,  President Obama became only the fourth sitting American President to visit a Native American Reservation–The Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation in North Dakota.  Former Presidents Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929, 30th

Official White House photo by Pete Souza

President), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932-1945, 32nd President), and William “Bill” Jefferson Clinton (1992-2000, 42nd President) all made visits to Pine Ridge or the Cherokee Nation.

America’s relationship with Native Americans has been very little of beautiful and a whole lot of ugly: through the displacements and massacres and simply not acknowledging the existence of Native Americans through unequal treaties and the American Constitution, it is great that President Obama’s visit can represent a sign of the times to come.

There is so much prophecy in the fact that President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are visiting this reservation as the leaders of our nation considering Black America’s sordid past of being enslaved by Native Americans  in the United States of America.

In these changing times it is great to see President Obama serve as a bridge linking our past, present and future.  President Obama’s presence is the beginning of a long overdue conversation, a much-needed intervention of two marginalized groups that need a whole lot of healing, and a nation in need of reckoning.

It is always great to see good history being made–the kind that has the potential to heal old wounds.  Way to go President Obama!

Check out the MSNBC article below written by Trymaine Lee as he further explains President Obama’s Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation trip.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-makes-historic-trip-indian-country