You may be wondering about the title. I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything close to what you might be thinking. It’s one of my mother’s colorful expressions. In common usage the phrase would be spoken “Have MERcy”, and would be a supplication. My mother, Ella, on the other hand, would say “HAAVE mercy!”, with “Haave” slightly elongated and higher in tone than “mercy”. She often accompanied it with a slap on her thigh or a shake of her head to indicate pleasure or approval so strong she could hardly bear it.

That is how I felt watching Kamala Harris and Joe Biden address the nation Saturday night. Not only happy, but proud – proud that on this day Americans decided to, in the words of Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again”.