Nobel Prize of Hope: Human Race Embrace

Today President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It has generated a lot of controversy over whether or not he deserved the award. I will leave that for others to debate. However, today I would like to honor the spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize and what it represents. Earlier today when I heard the announcement of President Barack Obama as the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner I made a comment on Twitter to the effect that for me this was a "Nobel Prize of Hope." A sincere hope that President Barack Obama and other world leaders will pursue the peaceful resolution of conflicts rather than opting for war. So it is my prayer today that Barack Obama’s win will help bring about a more peaceful world than the one we currently live in. Barack Obama’s father comes from my home country of Kenya the home of another Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai who inspired me to write a poem on environmentalism. The poetry and artwork in this article are about moving beyond divisiveness and racism and embracing each other as one human race. The name Barack is similar to the Swahili word “Baraka” which means “Blessing.” Peace is a blessing that so many of us who have not lived through war take for granted. While it is a tremendous burden to put on one man’s shoulders may President Barack Obama live up to his name and help bring about the blessing of peace in nations around the world. May he also live up to the honor that the Nobel Academy has bestowed upon him.

Two heads are better than one
So the saying goes
United we stand, divided we fall
We have been taught this lesson
Many times over
Embrace me my brother
So that we can stand tall
Let us join together
For as one we can conquer all

Let us join together in love
So that we may soar above
All of the challenges
that this human life brings
Together we can find
Heavenly wings
With which to fly
Beyond the confines
Of limited earth-bound thinking

Let us join together in
One human race embrace
Let us move beyond the color
Of our brother’s face
The limits and confines of race
As a measure of who we choose to embrace
For at the root of it we are all one
A multi-colored family of man
And together “Yes We Can,”
Improve this world for all of its earthly sons
So let us join our hearts and our minds
In one peaceful unified
Brotherly Embrace
for the benefit of all mankind.

This peace poem is dedicated to all of mankind. May we learn to see beyond the divisivness of race and nationality and learn to embrace each other as one. - Injete Chesoni

• 2009 - Barack Obama
• 2008 - Martti Ahtisaari
• 2007 - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore
• 2006 - Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank
• 2005 - International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei
• 2004 - Wangari Maathai
• 2003 - Shirin Ebadi
• 2002 - Jimmy Carter
• 2001 - United Nations, Kofi Annan
• 2000 - Kim Dae-jung
• 1999 - Médecins Sans Frontières

While I respect the contributions of all of these Nobel Peace Prize winners most people would be surprised at who my favorite Nobel Laureate is. As an economist and a strong believer in the importance of economic empowerment, equal opportunity and self-reliance the Nobel laureate that I respect the most is Muhammad Yunus. One of the fathers of micro-finance and the founder of Grameen Bank. I bought a book about him titled, "Banker to the Poor," in 1999 during a long layover at the Heathrow Airport. I was on my way back to college in the US shortly after burying my dear father in Kenya. Yunus may have made an impact on me partly because of the sentimentality of that moment in my life but mostly because of the great strides that he has made towards empowering the most dis-enfranchised members of society. He is largely responsible for increasing access to finance for the poor in general and women in particular. Yunus helped prove that the poor were bankable. His model has been successfully replicated in numerous countries around the world.

Copyright Notice - You may use the image and poem on this website for 

non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the artist Injete Chesoni 

and include a link to this website. All works of art and writing within 

this website are protected under U.S. copyright laws and international 

conventions. No portion of the artist’s works or statements may be used, 

downloaded, reproduced using any means, copied, linked to, or transferred 
electronically, without prior written permission from the writer.