YES WE DID!

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by Lesley R. Chinn

A change that people believed inand deserved is what they got whenDemocratic Presidential nomineeBarack Obama secured his victoryover his Republican opponent U.S.Senator John McCain.

The son of a Black Kenyan fatherand White Kansas mother; U.S.Senator and former state Senatorfrom Illinois defeated McCain in astring of victories in key battlegroundstates-Pennsylvania,Florida, Ohio, Iowa, and Virginia.Exit polls showed that Obamareceived 338 electoral votes toMcCains 141, which was more thanthe 270 needed to become the 44thPresident of the United States. Thepopular vote was close with 51.3percent to 47.5 percent with 73 percentof all U.S. precincts counted asof our press time.

Obama and his vice-presidentialrunning mate, U.S. Senator JoeBiden of Delaware, will take theiroaths of office as president and vicepresident,respectively, on January20, 2009. The President-elect willmove into the Oval Office as leaderof a country that is almost certainlyin a recession, and fighting two longwars, one in Iraq, the other inAfghanistan.

But before he takes his oath ofoffice, Obama took a moment tobask in his victory before masses ofpeople on a mild autumn Tuesdayevening at Grant Park where theylong awaited his speech at around 11p.m.

Americans sent a message to theworld that weve never been a collectionof individuals or a collectionof blue states or red states. We areand always will be a United Statesof America.

Obama said that this victorybelongs to the millions of peoplewho gave up their time and moneyto support a cause they believed in.I know you didnt do this for mebut you did because you understandthe enormity of the task that liesahead.

While people are celebratingtonight, Obama said that there arechallenges including the countrysworst but yet current financial crisis.He called for teamwork with thepeople to help him run the governmentsmoothly. In this country, werise and fall as one nation and onepeople. Lets resist the temptation ofpettiness and immaturity that haspoisoned our politics for so long.

Throughout this election he sawmany historic firsts that would betold for generations, but one storythat came to Obamas mind was a106-year-old Black voter Ann NixonCooper who cast her vote in Atlanta,GA. He saluted her because sheexemplified her sacrifice against theodds to help pursue the AmericanDream.

She was there for a preacher inAtlanta (Dr. Martin Luther King)who said we can overcome. In thisyears election, she touched her fingerto a string and cast her vote. Sheknows how America can change.

Obama said that while America hascome so far and seen so much, hesaid that there is more work thatneeds to be done. Let us ask ourselves- if our children should live tosee the next century; if my daughtersshould be so lucky to live as long asAnn Nixon Cooper, what changewill they see? What progress will wehave made?

Earlier in the evening, Obama saidhe received a call from McCain congratulatinghim on a well-fought outcampaign. He commended McCain,who is a Vietnam War veteran, formaking unimaginable sacrifices forhis country and pledged to work torenew the nations promise in themonths ahead. While ending his 10-year quest for the White House,McCain, who commended Obamaon a well-fought campaign, said thepeople spoke and he urged his supportersto work the President-elect.

This victory comes the day afterObama announced that his grandmother,Madelyn Dunham, died onSunday at age 86. Obamas nicknamefor his grandmother wasToot a version of the Hawaiianword for grandmother, tutu. Manyof his speeches described her workingon a bomber assembly line duringWorld War II. Last month, hetook a break from the campaign tospend his final days with his grandmother.

The historic moment also comes 40years after the assassination of thelate civil rights leader Dr. MartinLuther King Jr. in 1968; 45 yearsafter Kings I Have a Dream,speech in 1963; and 43 years afterthe Voting Rights Act in 1965. Atthat time no one would have imaginedthe day that this nation wouldelect its first Black president.

William Garth, publisher of theCitizen Newspapers, watched thefestivities from a downtown condooverlooking Grant Park where millionsof people erupted with tears ofjoy when they heard about Obamasvictory.

Ive never experienced anythinglike this when Ive traveled theworld over and even when I was inAfrica with Nelson Mandela,marching with Dr. King, or runningas a delegate with Rev. Jesse L.Jackson in 1984 and 1988. Thisnight is the most proudest night thatIve ever witnessed or experiencedin my lifetime.

David Johnson, a political professorat South Suburban College, saidObamas victory not only representsone for Black people, but just everyoneworldwide. People around theworld are fed up with the unilateralpolicies of the United States andBarack Obama represents a changein that direction.

Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evansdescribed Obamas campaign asunique because of the use of lots oftechnology involving the Internet,which attracted new and youngervoters at record numbers. I think itwould confirm to people that youcan make a change. It would liftpeoples spirits in the way the votingprocess works.

In other election news, CookCounty, Anita Alvarez, who pulledan upset victory in the Democraticprimary, scored a landslide win overher Republican opponent TonyPeraica and Green Party candidateThomas OBrien to fill the seat ofretiring Dick Devine. She becomesto become the first female LatinoCook County States Attorney.According to AP exit poll numbers,89 precincts reported at our presstime that Alvarez received 69 percentof the vote while Peraica onlyreceived 26 percent and Green Partycandidate Thomas OBrien received5 percent.

As for the Illinois ConstitutionConvention, more than 68 percentvoted no on the ballot questionwhile 32 percent voted yes. Thisquestion is on the Illinois ballotevery 20 years. The last time therewas an Illinois ConstitutionConvention was in 1970.

Other election results included victoriesfor Congressman BobbyRush; Jesse L. Jackson Jr; andDanny Davis. In the GeneralAssembly, Will Burns and AndreThapedi will be the new kids on theblock as state Representatives-electof the 26th District and 32ndDistrict, respectively, while EmilJones III will take the state Senate inthe 14th District, where his father,Emil Jones Jr. proudly served fornumerous years.

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