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WORLD> America
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Obama victory sets off jubilation
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-05 14:13 From the avenue in Atlanta where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was born to a giant lakefront rally in Chicago, Americans black and white celebrated Barack Obama's election with tears, the honking of horns, screams of joy, arms lifted skyward, and memories of civil rights struggles past.
Tens of thousands of people who had crowded into Grant Park in Chicago to await Obama's arrival erupted in cheers and jubilantly waved American flags as the TV news announced the llinois senator had been elected the first black president. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had made two White House bids himself, had tears streaming down his face. Gatherings in churches and homes spilled outdoors, with people dancing in the streets and honking their horns in celebration. Some didn't even wait for Obama to be declared the winner. In Philadelphia, Michael Coard, a 43-year-old black lawyer, said he was so excited by the election that he took a picture of himself inside the voting booth, casting his vote for Obama. "I feel rejuvenated," he said. "This is the best vote I've ever cast in my life." In Tampa, Fla., cheers and applause broke out in a crowded bar as CNN called the race for Obama. The blare of cars honking outside wafted through the bar's open front door. "It's a landslide! It's a landslide!" shouted 51-year-old Mark Bias, who was dressed in a tall satin Uncle Sam hat and red, white and blue cape. "This means that America will be back on the right track again," said Bias, who co-owns what he described as a "gay pride" shop. "What it really means for the country is that there's going to be a major change in the direction ... (for) the priorities of the regular person, and not just the wealthy," said Carrie West, 54, as bar patrons chanted "O-ba-ma, O-ba-ma, O-ba-ma." At Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached, Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights hero, was emotional as he took the pulpit before Obama's victory was announced. He said he was hardly able to believe that 40 years after he was left beaten and bloody on an Alabama bridge as he marched for the right for blacks to vote, he had voted for Obama. "This is a great night," he said. "It is an unbelievable night. It is a night of thanksgiving." |
