Obama’s Victory Reactions: ABC

Exuberant. Ecstatic. Overwhelmed. These are only some of the words that can describe African American emotions as Barack Obama, a man who wasn’t even born in the US, assumed the position of president-elect, the most powerful position in the world. Here are some reactions from the African American community.

Preston Johnson, 22: “I feel like 100 pounds are off my shoulders right now. I feel the change right this minute”.

Tejahn Rahman, 25: “…the younger generation sees that we can do better than what we’ve done. I’ve got chills down my spine”.

Christine King Farris, 81, Martin Luther King Jr’s sister: “Change takes time and to get to this place in time is a sign. This takes me back to my brother’s last speech in Memphis. “I may not get there with you”, but we – not some Americans, but all Americans – will get to the Promised Land…God granted this because of the struggles and hard work that brought us to this place. We are (now) accepted as full-fledged citizens of this country”.

Rev. Jesse Jackson: “For blacks who voted for Obama, this is reconciliation, for whites, it is redemption. That is the force that made his victory possible. His accomplishment came from the pain of martyrs. If Obama can become president, there is nothing we cannot be. We celebrate, but there is unfinished business. We may have arrived, but there is work to be done. We are now free, but there are still structural inequalities. We celebrate, but there is (still) unfinished business”.

Jeff Mann, 51: “You can’t be anything, but joyful. Obama is going to change the world”.

David Dinkins, 81, who served as New York City’s first black mayor from 1991 to 1993 and now a professor at Columbia University: “Everybody stands on everybody else’s shoulders. Blacks are swelling with pride. I am a child of the Depression, in the Marine Corps, in 1945, stationed in the South. I know how it was when black soldiers and Marines were treated worse than foreign prisoners of war. Those were the days of white and colored water fountains”.

Andrew Young, who served as Martin Luther King’s ally in demonstrations in Selma, Alabama and Florida: “The significance of this election is global and sends a message around the world that America really does believe in democracy and that we practice the values we preach. It’s natural for Obama. He is African (and) he went to school in Indonesia. It forced him (to) be exceptional in his humility and his judgment. His childhood gave him a kind of cultural DNA to hear and understand people from all over the world”. This is a lesson that Hong Kong government officials should learn: listen to the people.

Isaac Farris, Martin Luther King Jr’s nephew: “This is not the fulfillment of the dream. It’s huge, though and we’re three-fourths of the way there. The reality is that it can’t be – too many people, both black and white, who vote based on race. That was not my uncle’s dream. Just to have a guy there who looks like me, my child or my grandchild. That sends a huge message. Other than the March on Washington that set up the Civil Rights Act, I cannot think of a movement that surpasses this. Spiritually, this is a serious moment, not the watershed moment of the ’60s, but the emotional high is right up there with that”.