A Solemn and Decisive Victory

2008-11-05
By Eric Easter

As major historic events go, the Election Night watch in Chicago’s Grant Park lacked the energy of say, Mandela’s release from prison in Capetown, the wild enthusiasm of the visit of Pope John Paul to the National, the fervor of the 25th Anniversary March on Washington, the togetherness of the Million Man March or even, oddly, the joy of the Democratic National Convention where the outcome was guaranteed. I was blessed to have attended them all, and this one was by comparison, sedate, if that can be believed.

Maybe it was the drama of the moment, the up and down of states won and states lost, the uncertainty. Maybe it was the fact the with thousands of people watching a Jumbotron tuned to CNN, the venue became little more than an open air living room where the family is glued to the TV without talking.

But by the end of the night the reason was clear, the crowd mirrored the mood of the man they came to see. It was if everyone, collectively, knew that this moment was borne of a troubled time. Hope propelled us here, but deeply tough times was the platform that built it. After all, how tough must it be that America would find two women and a Black man more compelling as leaders for its future than the men who’ve run the nation for 200 years?

There was a palpable sense of not just history being made, but much more work to be done. Obama, lacking his signature stride, more pensive, clearly filled with a sense of obligation set a hopeful but cautionary tone of a need for duty and cooperation.

Next to me, a producer from the BBC that I chatted with earlier about the differences in racial attitudes in our respective nations, weeped openly and talked of never thinking he would see this day.

One hundred yards away on Michigan Avenue the scene was different. Disconnected from the actual event, people allowed themselves more enthusiasm. It was a Cubs World Series and a Bears Super Bowl victory in one, with policemen uncommonly open and jovial even amidst a dramatically tightened ring of security.

In the lobby of Ebony Magazine, passersby stopped to photograph a collage of Ebony and Jet magazines with Barack and Michelle Obama on the covers, and came in to pose with life size cut-outs of the President – elect.

Another crowd of Obama supporters left the press area as Joe Biden entered the arena. Earlier in the evening they had been planning to go directly from Grant park to a major, star-studded affair at the Hilton. After the Obama speech, they opted instead to go home, wake up their children and explain this incredible moment in time.

How does one explain that everything you thought about your self and your country has suddenly and irrevocably changed?

View Blog: Election Day 2008