CHAPTER 1

The Election of Barack Obama

Ordinary men and women's interview responsesto how they felt about the election of the firstAfrican American president

Verbatim Interviews in Response to Question Number One:What were your thoughts and feelings on election night the moment youheard that Barack had won and was now president-elect?

Interviews for Part I:

Shango D. Hopkins, age thirty-six, arespiratory therapist, resides in Indianawith his wife and four children bymarriage.

Today, I met my sons, Nkrumah andShango for my eldest son's (Nkrumah)birthday dinner. I asked my youngest son,Shango, who is thirty-six years old, whatBarack Obama's election as the forty-fourthpresident of the United States means tohim. How does it make him feel as a youngblack man?

At first Shango said, "I don't know,Mom. There aren't words to express it." I smiled calmly at him andassured him it was okay and that he could think about it and tell melater for the book.

Then, looking more relaxed as we waited for our dinner at Leona'sRestaurant in Hyde Park, he said, "I feel better and more hopeful interms of equality for black people. I'm just going to wait and see whathappens. I really didn't think that with all the different races and culturesin America, along with the divisions and differences among black people,that all black people, could come together and the other people, wouldcome together to vote for any one black man. That's really what I didn'tthink was possible in my lifetime."

As Shango and I talked, we asked each other why it is that blacks,along with Hispanics, Arabs, Jews, women, and others accepted a glassceiling when it came to our political aspirations to be president of theUnited States.

I remarked to Shango that when black people shatter the glassceiling, the floodgates open so wide that everyone else can now aspireto have or do whatever it is we overcame.

But when women got the right to vote, black people didn't. WhenHispanics achieved some victory, it never spilled over to include blackfolks. (See Author's Comments /Part I.)

When the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, that bill gave everyminority, ethnic, and cultural group civil rights in the United States.

Whenever black people pursued a path to correct any injustice, ithas always been for the benefit of everyone in society and not just blackpeople. It is for that reason that Barack Obama is the right man forthe job as the first black president. It is for that reason that he can be apresident for all people in America, as well as, be a president for blackpeople, representing his race in the highest office in the country.

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Jacqueline Davis, age forty, a radiologist tech, resides in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania.

"I worked the night before the election. I voted when I got offwork. I slept throughout the day. I promised myself I wouldn't turn anyelection channels on before 11:00 p.m. I just wanted to know who won.I couldn't wait, so I turned the TV on at 8:30 p.m. I started watchingCNN, and I couldn't stop. I was totally ecstatic when they announcedMr. Barack Obama is the forty-fourth president of the US. I just cried. Inever believed I would live long enough to see a black man as president.I celebrated with a toast of my lemonade! I'm thankful to God abovethat I lived long enough to see this day.

"I collected copies of various newspapers from the Internet. Iplan to have a pocketbook made from these papers. I downloaded hisacceptance speech. I'll pass these treasures down to my grandchildren.Words can't express the perpetual joy I've experienced every day sincethis occurred."

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Mr. Elks, age forty-five-year-old black man, a physical therapisttechnician, resides in Chicago.

Mr. Elks was asked the same question about what he felt the nightBarack Obama was elected. He said, "I'm angry and yet feel good abouthim being an intelligent and strong man. I think he showed us duringhis campaign, he is his own man's man with a mind of his own. He won'tbe token black person with other people telling him what to do. He mayor may not make a difference in how we are treated in this country.

I don't see myself as an American. I see myself as a black man inAmerica, a country I'm not a part of. All I ever wanted was to feel likeI'm really a part of this country. Obama may give us that, but we stillhave to wait and see."

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Bertha Harris-Reine, born 1938 in NewOrleans, Louisiana, retired housekeeper,resides in Chicago, Illinois

Bertha Mae Harris-Reine was seventyyears old when Barack Obama was namedpresident-elect at 11:00 p.m. on electionnight. I asked Bertha, a dear friend of mine,how she felt at the moment she heard wehad a black president. What thoughts wentthrough her mind?

Bertha said she started watching theelection returns with her husband, Milton,but thought it would go on until 1:00 a.m.,so she got in bed with a slight headache to watch the election returns.She dozed off but was awakened by the TV, and then she heard themsay Barack had won the election at 11:00 p.m. She listened intently to hisvictory speech and said she felt a calm joy go through her entire body.

"It was at that moment I realized it was like a step in the journeyhad been completed—the journey from civil rights to that mountaintopMartin Luther King spoke of in his speech. We, as former slaves, wentfrom the slave ship to the White House."

Bertha said, as she paused to think.

"Barack, born of an African father and an American mother, was anAfrican boy. That African boy was what kept going through my mind.Barack the African boy! At that moment I thought about John Lewis,who worked and marched with Martin Luther King during the civilrights movement. I saw black people and white people crying with tearsof joy—it was just amazing." Bertha said, with her emotions edging upin her voice.

"You know, I was raised up under segregation in New Orleans, whereI was born. Colored people were not allowed to drink water from thewhite-only water fountains in the parks. We couldn't swim in the parkdistrict swimming pool back then. I remember how we would wait for agood rain to get wet in our swimming suits and play in the puddles thatemerged in the lower levels of the streets. The bigger boys, who weremore adventurous, would walk two or three miles to the MississippiRiver to swim and walk back." Bertha paused for a moment of silentreflection. "You know, quite a few of my friends...