Anglais: La constitution des Etats-Unis

two hundred and twenty-one years ago, founding fathers wrote into the US Constitution that slaves were to be counted as three-fifths of a human being in the representative democracy that was being born.

One hundred and forty-seven years ago, the states of the South launched the Civil War to defend the white citizen's power to hold others in bondage.

One hundred and twelve years ago, the US Supreme Court ruled that laws consigning blacks to ''separate but equal'' facilities were constitutional.

Forty yers ago, a presidential candidate declared as governor of Alabama: '' Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.'' And he won the votes of ten million Americans

And, today, this nation - so haunted by the original sin of race and yet so dedicated to the ideal that all men are created equal - has elevated a black man to the presidency.

The question asked time and time again over the past two years has been answered; American were ready after all - yes we were - to welcome a black man to the White House.

Fifty-two years ago, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man.

Forty-four years ago, Lyndon Johnson pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through Congress and followed with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Forty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. grave his life.

Twenty-four years ago, Ophrah Winfrey got a TV talk show.

And this morning, Barack Obama is President-elect.

Fortunate are the children of all backgrounds who will grow up more trusting of America's commitment to rewarding merit regardless of skin color.

Fortunate are the members of older generations who suffered or witnessed the cruelties of racism.

Fortunate are the people of good faith - white, black and other - who have struggled to reach common ground across the racial divide.

It is a glory that so much of the American electorate of 2008 chose Obama neither because of his heritage nor despite it. They went with this son of a kenyan father and a white mother because of the quality of his person and his approaches to the issues.

The indisputable truth is that Obama did not run for President as a black man.

He ran as a Havard Law-educated US senator who was, incidentally, a person of color.

At the same time, no one should ever forget that John McCain had the wisdom and decency never to exploit racial fears. He competed with an honor befitting the man he is.

This was an election that surely would have delighted King and of which all Americans can be proud.

We judged Barack OBAMA by the content of his character.

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