On November 4th, I wanted to feel the results of the election, not just hear them through the TV. It most likely was going to be historic and I wanted to be with a crowd. My friend Cheryl and I took the trolley downtown to go to Election Central in Golden Hall. Having watched returns reported from Golden Hall for years, I thought it would be exciting to be right in the middle of it.
After realizing we had boarded the wrong trolley, we got off and hurried up several blocks of not-quiet downtown to get to Election Central. When we walked in, I thought I was in the wrong room. All I saw was Fox News and Yes on Prop 8 signs, Naively, I asked a security guard if there was another (democratic) room. He said that this was the only room. Cheryl and I took a more careful look around and did see some balance: No on Prop 8 signs, No on Prop 4, etc. We stood in the center and got our bearings.
All the local news channels had set up on risers around the perimeter of the largish room. The newscasters of each station sat with their backs to the crowd, so that when they were on camera, the crowd was behind them. This made them seem unwelcoming and disinterested. Each station broadcasted live onto a large flat screen TV in front of their platforms. Cheryl and I walked around to try to find a TV to watch. It was 7:50 and we knew the West Coast polls were about to close. Unbelievably, KUSI was broadcasting Judge Judy. I wanted to shout out, "Hey, KUSI, it is November 4th, 2008, and there is a presidential election of huge magnitude going on right now, the polls are about to close, the race is about to be called, and you are showing Judge Judy???? What the..."
Cheryl and I moved to the next station. It was Telemundo. We could see they were showing something relevant but could not understand it. We moved over to another station, Channel 10. They did not have the sound up loud enough for the crowd that had gathered to hear. It was now just a couple of minutes after 8:00. A friend from work said he saw us on Channel 10 and heard that the election was called for Obama. Knowing that Cheryl and I both voted for him, he was surprised that we did not react when it was announced that Barack Obama was the next President of the United States. That was because we didn't know! We couldn't hear! A few minutes after that, someone shouted it and the whole crowd screamed. It was very exciting, albeit somewhat delayed.
Cheryl and I decided to leave this place and headed down to the House of Blues where we knew the Democrats were holding a party. When we got there, we saw that the line stretched down the block, around the corner and down the next block. It was an excited crowd that waited to get in. The couple in front of us, who were also walking to the end of the line, had just seen on their iPhone that John McCain conceded. They told everyone as they walked down the line. Cheers erupted in domino fashion all down the line. It was very exciting.
When we got to the end of the line, we waited for a little while before realizing that we were not going to get in. The line was not moving. I really wanted to hear McCain's concession speech, so we left and ducked into a bar that had two large flat screen TVs. We ordered drinks and sat at a high table to watch. The TVs didn't have any sound on, so I asked the bartender if she could turn them up. She said no. As we downed our drinks, we could see McCain giving his speech, but could not hear it. None of the other customers were interested. Amazing!
Neither Cheryl nor I wanted to miss Obama's acceptance speech, so we headed back to Golden Hall, hoping Judge Judy wouldn't usurp President-elect Barack Obama. We crowded around the Channel 10 TV, which was only about two feet off the ground. This meant that those who were standing right in front of it blocked the view for everyone else. But that didn't matter. At that celebratory moment we were all friends. We stood very close, stood in unity, as we watched this truly historic speech. We cheered, some cried, I received hugs from absolute strangers. It was momentous.
I am not that old, yet I remember when I lived in Houston as a child seeing separate bathrooms and separate drinking fountains. My mother was made to feel very uncomfortable when she boarded a bus once and she sat in the back, in the "colored section". (We had just moved from Iowa and she did not know the unspoken rules.) So, to see in my lifetime, a man of color take the highest office is truly amazing. I feel like Americans have been vindicated to some extent. What other country that has been historically elected white presidents has elected a black man? By the way, Obama is as white as he is black. As he said, he is a mutt. We are all evolving to mutt status.
Now that the election is over, I feel like the whole world has been granted a two month rest. President-elect Obama can not make any changes yet, nor can he be tested. So much of the world celebrated on November 4th. They celebrated the chance to feel hopeful. This global feeling of hope has raised the consciousness of all of us. We can relax and enjoy it for two whole months. We can all remain hopeful, hopeful for a brighter future.
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