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i am grateful for OPRAH


Yesterday, my "Angel Mother" as i like to call her, Ms. Oprah G. Winfrey received the highest honor in the land-- The Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Obama applauded her for... "reaching the pinnacle of the entertainment universe." For twenty-five years, The Oprah Winfrey Show helped to extend the conversation about topics that were taboo; from sexual abuse to cellulite, she made it okay to tell the truth. She created a safe space for people to come and leave their shame and the secrets that blocked their light. Because of this, millions of others were liberated by the knowledge that they were not alone in their suffering.

 I started watching the Oprah show when I was around eight or nine years old. Her voice was soothing. Her insights were as wise and profound as those of my own mother. I saw the same light in her eyes that I saw in my mother's eyes. I believe it was because of this that she would go on to mean even more to me after my mother lost her battle with breast cancer in 2002.


I had the opportunity to tell Ms. Winfrey how much she means to me in 2006 on her then XM satellite radio show,"Talk to Me". 

 "Hello Angel Mother" I greeted her.

 "Angel mother? I hadn't been called that before." She responded.  

 The theme of the show was kindness. I talked briefly about the time I surprised my high school classmates with cookies that I baked. I called them hope cookies and told them to keep the hope of their dreams alive.

We would go on to discuss how she realizes that she stands on the shoulders of giants and that she carries the ancestors with her at all times. That's why she doesn't feel alone when she walks into a boardroom meeting and she's the only African American there. "I go as one, but I stand as ten thousand", I remember her saying. 

 Oprah also told me about the time Jesse Jackson saved her from a math test that she wasn't prepared for.

 "Excellence is the best deterrent to racism, therefore be excellent. Excellence is the best deterrent to sexism, therefore be excellent." he said."In all that you do, be excellent." Young Oprah was so moved that she went home and wrote this message down and posted it on her wall. She said that she was never not prepared for another math test again. 

I think that it goes without saying that after my mother, Oprah has been the greatest influence and inspiration in my life. She represents the best of what I can become because she comes from where I'm from. My father's roots are in the same place where she was born and spent her early childhood-- Kosciusko. Her show's birthplace is the same birthplace of my mother-- Chicago. 

What I know for sure is that my life is fuller because I get to walk the planet the same time as Oprah, learning from and growing with her. I know for sure that because our circle has already begun with that conversation eight years ago on her XM radio show, it has to come back around. And finally, I know for sure that "God can dream a bigger dream for you than you can ever dream for yourself." The awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom is proof of that. 

Congratulations, Oprah. I am grateful for you.  

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