Local reaction to Barack Obama’s victory
On August twenty-eighth, 1963 Martin Luther King Junior delivered a speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in which he said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” And no one knew that day would come forty eight years later on November fourth, 2008. The world stayed up last night to watch the United States Presidential Elections, a battle between the Republican’s John McCain and Barack Obama. A crowd of more than a hundred and twenty-five thousand gathered in Chicago’s Grant Park. There were people of all colors and creed waiting to see the man they hoped would be the next US president. Obama’s lead broadened from early in the night and when Obama reached the two hundred and seventy electoral votes required to win the election, he emerged to speak. While standing between two bullet proof glass walls Obama said: “This victory alone is not the change we seek; it is only the chance to make that change.” The crowd roared and the tremors were felt everywhere. Today the News Five crew hit the streets to find out what Belizeans think of Obama’s victory.
Person #1
“Well I mi surprise fi know as I wake up this morning gas gone down. I feel good. They say it’s because of Obama but God knows his way.”
Person #2
“Yes ih good fi got a black president and I feel like ih wah do good fi di whole world. So that is how I feel good about that I feel proud about that for a black man become a president.”
Person #3
“I no tek it colour thing. Colour thing noh work. I think it’s just wah normal man weh honest and it is good for the citizen of the USA. But if Obama come dah Belize ih have to look up Seaweed cause I’m the man of Belize.”
Person #4
“It is great change for America. We’re Canadians and we know that affects us. So it’s great to have a man in power that’s going to something.”
Person #5
“It’s finally, finally good to see a black man taking over. Most of the time it’s mostly fair skinned. But now I think we’ll have a better chance.”
Person #6
“We don’t care we don’t care. We don’t care. Good for them, let him have fun then.”
Person #7
“I was born in America. I’m a Belizean American. I was born in 1948 when Segregation was still legal. And last night when Obama won I cried.”
Jose Sanchez
“Did you see Jesse Jackson?”
Person #7
“Yes.”
Jose Sanchez
“What do you think was going through his mind?”
Person #7
“Same thing. I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.”
Person #8
“This is history in the making. Remember America has always said A black man will never enter the White House. I’ve seen it in my lifetime. It has happened. That means all things are possible in America. I just hope he does good you know, because he will be tested.”
Person #9
“I feel really good that he won because it’s showing that for once in America that racism didn’t count. He was put there not because of his colour but because of his intelligence. For instance, gas gone down already, so we’re all gonna feel the good thing about it.”
Person #10
“I feel good. Well first time in history we have a black president in America.”
Jose Sanchez
“We have a black Prime Minister of Belize too.”
Person #10
“Well that good to.”
One of the more emotional images of the Obama Victory was of a tearful Jesse Jackson. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. He lost those nominations and was considered the best chance of any African American to be in the White House. Barack Obama Jr. is the first African American to be nominated by the Democratic Party and then to be elected as the president of the United States. Obama won three hundred and thirty-four electoral votes. He is the forty fourth president of the United States and will take office on January twentieth, 2009.
