My husband and I went to our polling place here in Brooklyn at about 8:00. The line was orderly, straight, and moving… s-l-o-w-l-y. Moving, though. As we entered the school, about an hour later, we saw that the gym was full of winding lines. In fact, a poll worker had to temporarily stop the line of people entering the gym behind me to avoid causing a fire hazard.
The entire community – in all our beautiful diversity – was there. Neighbors called out to each other, and people became friendly with strangers standing with them in line.
About two hours later, a total of three hours in all, Ralph and I voted.
Yes, I teared up. Yes, I stood there for a moment gazing at Obama’s name at the top of the democratic line. Yes, my ancestors, especially my dearest grandmother, who passed this April, were in there with me.
As I waited for Ralph to vote after me, I stood there wiping the corners of my eyes. So happy to share this moment with him. So joyous.
Some folk came out of the voting booth and cheered. Others took pictures. Here in Brooklyn, people could wear their Obama buttons, t-shirts, and carry their “I Obama Bklyn” bags. Two women were catching everything they could on film outside the polling place.
Tonight, we’re going to one of the zillion election parties here in the city. I figure once the results come in for Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida, we’ll know…. or it’ll be an all-nighter. Either way, the plan is to stay up and share this historic night with others, my peoples here in NYC.
Go, Obama. Go!
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This was sent by a black American friend in Paris, where the French have already been whooping it up since yesterday in anticipation of an Obama victory. Sante!!
–A
Mes Amis,
I can’t stop crying!
Last night, November 3, the “Comité de Soutien à Barack Obama” launched red, white and blue balloons in honor of Senator Obama’s anticipated victory. A crowd of hundreds then went to nearby Findi Restaurant, on Ave George V, where the party continued with champagne, hor d’oeurves and stirring gospel sung by the world famous Golden Gate Quartet. From “No More Weepin’ and Wailing’ “, to “Oh Happy Day!”, to Linda Lee Hopkin’s soul stirring rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner”….it was a night to remember!
Imagine “YES WE CAN!” and “0-BA-MA!” shouted in French by thousands.
The hope and joy we shared in Paris last night was amazing!! With a 95% approval rating among the French, Senator Obama is considered the one who will lead not just America, but the World into a new future!
I can only think of how it must have been after World War I, when African American soldiers, among them the 369th Harlem Hellfighters, were hailed as heros! Last night put us in the middle of an election that is HISTORY!
Tonight, I’ll join French, Spanish, African and African American friends at an all-night election-watch party off the Champs Elysees, hosted by Africa International Magazine (celebrating it’s 50th anniversary). We are saddened by the death of Senator Obama’s Grandmother, Madelyn Dunam, but as my dear Rev. June Gatlin so eloquently writes, “She rests, assured (she has prepared) her majestic Grandson to ascend into the Divinely ordained place of World favor.”
It’s November 4th, 2:00 in the afternoon here in Paris. We are all waiting for you to vote and for the final vote to be tallied in California, which should come early in the morning for us.
We’ll be waiting….and watching, prepared to be part of this historic world moment in time!
Fired Up! Ready To Go!
Love,
Ricki Stevenson Bascombe
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As I write this, I am supposed to be working, but am too emotional and too distracted. I stood proudly and patiently to vote today for two hours at a polling place in Lansing, Michigan, that has never seen a waiting line to vote. My husband Darnay, daughter Nicole, who is 23 and my son Chris, 19 (who voted for the first time) went with me to vote as a family.
We ran into old neighborhood friends and made a lot of new friends (you get to meet new people when you stand in line for two hours). To see really young people standing in line with really old people, willing to do what it takes to have their voices heard, was an amazing thing.
We were voters 127, 128, 129 and 130 at our polls. It must have been the look on my face, that made the poll-worker who took my ballot want to tell me, ?I thought you might want to know what numbers you were.? She?s right. Tonight when the big numbers come in, I will keep remembering 127, 128, 129 and 130.It took all the self control I had, to not burst out in tears.
I have been so emotional, and have had some terrific access to aspects of the campaign, that I have cried the whole year. Last night I cried because Barack Obama?s grandmother didn?t live to see this moment. A month ago I cried at a rally to hear him say ?I stand here because someone believed in me.?
I know what he meant. Today, I voted for Barack Obama. I cast one vote, but it was for me, and all the family that came before me who could not even imagine a moment like this. It wasn?t until I got home that I had another moment. Nicole came in the room and said, ?Ma, we voted for the first black president.? I haven?t pulled myself off the floor yet.
I don?t know what the real outcome will be tonight. We know that strange things happen in elections. But I do know that just as I remember a childhood working in campaigns, as I remember being at Ernie Pyle School when John Kennedy was shot, remembering when Robert Kennedy was shot, Martin Luther King. Today I look at my son and remember casting my first vote?for Jimmy Carter. This is a day I will never forget.
Whenever something amazing happens in my life I have to anchor myself in where it comes from. I whisper to myself something my grandfather used to tell me whenever I would roll my eyes at political talk, or whine about stuffing envelopes or going to yet another awful fish fry to raise money for some candidate. He?d say, ?A high price has been paid for you to be here.? Today, I look at my two adult-ish kids, here having their say at the polls, showing their IDs, looking back at me. No dogs and guns. No beatings. Just a fully realized moment that my ancestors paid for on ships, in cotton fields, and in boycotts.
Today is another momentous occasion in the Collier family. My first born is going to her first day at work at our local television station. She is going to be a news assistant. Tonight she will be working from 6 pm to 4 am posting election results. I couldn?t resist saying to her for the thousandth time in her life, ?A high price has been paid for you to go to that station tonight?to even be able to count votes for a black man.? So if tonight, at that station, it turns out that she gets to say, ?Barack Obama, President Elect,? I home she also tells somebody tonight, ?I know that a whole lot of people paid a very, very high price for me to be here.?
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Over the bridge and into the land we were always meant to be. I am now so proud of my country. I have never felt so proud before. I’m thinking of this precious new life, your child who will come very soon into this beautiful new world.