Remember that scene in the first episode of The Jeffersons, when Florence, the maid, finds out that her new employers (George and Louise), who live in “a high-rise apartment in the sky,” are Black? She looked incredulously at both of them and asked, “How come we overcame and nobody told me?”

Lately, author Richard Kenyada has been feeling Florence’s pain. "I mean, I know Barack Obama was elected, and he has taken his seat in the Oval Room as the first African American President of the United States. I know that this moment is monumental, as well as historic. But when I hear people saying that we have finally overcome, and that Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream has been fulfilled, I can’t help but wonder, in the words of Florence, 'How come nobody told me?'”

"Nobody told me that HIV/AIDS has moved on to the next race in line because we ended our denial. Nobody told me that the mega-church preachers, with their golden faucets and diamond studded toothpicks, have decided to give the money back. Nobody told me that we have stopped killing and raping each other. Nobody told me that black grocery shoppers are passing the chitterlings aisle in favor of fresh fruits and veggies. Nobody told me that our young black men have stopped marching into prison cells at a clip of one in nine, between the ages of 20 and 34."

"Nobody told me that the home invasions and senseless execution-like slayings for cash register change have ceased to take place every day in cities around the nation. Nobody told me that a black male infant doesn't have a better chance to be hit by lightning – TWICE - than to live out his childhood, attend college and die of old age. Nobody told me!"

We have work to do. We now have a President who will do his part and roll up his sleeves along side of us. But that doesn't take us off the hook. President Obama can't save us from ourselves. That journey is a long way from being over but, granted, this is a damn good beginning."

Richard Kenyada is a native New Yorker - born in Brooklyn, raised in Jamaica Queens - and a two-tour Vietnam War veteran, who has enjoyed a successful 40-year career in engineering. Kenyada has been recognized for his community activism in computer literacy. Since 1998, his award-winning "PCs to the People" initiative has donated many free computers to disadvantaged children, as well as free computer training to senior citizens through his non-profit organization, Mr. Kenyada's Neighborhood. Kenyada lives in Metro Atlanta with his wife, Patricia.