US Features
African Americans recall advances as White House race ends
By Anne K Walters Nov 4, 2008, 4:57 GMT
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois waves to supporters as he arrives for a rally at Prince William County Fairgrounds, in Manassas, Virginia, 03 November 2008. Virginia. The event was his campaign\'s final rally before Obama headed to Chicago as America goes to the polls 04 November to elect a new president. EPA/MIKE THEILER
Chicago - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama may have been raised largely by his white grandparents in distant Hawaii, but when he wanted to connect with his community as a black man he came to Chicago.
Now with the White House in reach, Obama is returning to Chicago on Tuesday to mark election day in the city where his rise to prominence began. City officials expect up to a million people could gather in Grant Park to watch election results and hear from Obama after votes are tabulated in his race against Republican John McCain.
Though polls show the Democrat ahead, McCain's down-to-the-wire campaigning has taken aim to key swing states that could push him over the top in the state-by-state winner-takes-all electoral college.
But in largely Democratic Chicago, voters will throw their support behind Obama and much of the fervour behind his candidacy here will come from his fellow African Americans, driving in part an expected 80-per-cent voter turnout rate.
The city has had a thriving African American community since blacks first began migrating from the South driven by restrictive segregation and the prospect of jobs in northern manufacturing hubs. In Chicago, which is now 35 per cent black, most settled in the South Side near to industries in areas that had once drawn immigrants from Ireland and Eastern Europe.
Obama began his public career as a community organizer in an impoverished area of the far South Side and now African Americans from all socioeconomic backgrounds - from grafitti-scarred housing projects to Hyde Park mansions - see him as one of their own.
'If nothing else it's been a sign of motivation for people on the South Side to see someone different as president, who happens to come from a similar background on the South Side of Chicago,' said Allen Linton II, a 19-year-old political science student at the University of Chicago who has been working to get out the vote among his fellow African Americans in those neighbourhoods.
Linton, clad in an Obama T-shirt and baseball cap and studying outside on an unseasonably warm Chicago day, said those efforts have focused largely on convincing voters that they have something at stake in the election.
African Americans across the city see Obama's candidacy as a sign of progress in a country marred by the legacy of slavery and segregation, but like most US voters, regardless of race, the economy is foremost on their minds as they head to the polls Tuesday.
'Ninety-eight per cent is about the economy - the price of gas, the price of food, the price of living in general,' said T Allen as he loaded his laundry inside a laundromat. The African American senior citizen declined to say whom he voted for, but noted he had supported former first lady Hillary Clinton in the primaries. 'You look at their point of view. Race isn't a factor.'
Mike Kruglik, 66, a community organizer for the Gamaliel Foundation, has known Obama since the 1980s when they worked together in the South Side.
'Nobody asked me if I thought he'd be president, but I'd had said it wouldn't have surprised me,' he recalls looking back on those days.
After travelling across the country to organize volunteers for the candidate, Kruglik believes that concerns that racism will hamper Obama will be outweighed by the country's economic woes.
'Since the beginning of this race, the question has been do they care more about their personal economic success or their racial hangups,' he said ahead of the vote.
Even if Obama loses, many point to his candidacy alone as a breakthrough for blacks who never though they'd live to see an African American come this far, just over 40 years since the Civil Rights movement led to desegregation of public facilities and federal guarantees of African Americans' rights.
The advances are especially poignant for Nadine Kijak, 54, who grew up in Mississippi where as a child she longed to visit a local park to see its goldfish pond but was not welcome. She recalls how her father allowed her to briefly frolic on a beach designated for 'whites only' although it was against the law.
Kijak never thought she would see a black candidate on a presidential ticket.
'It's inspiring to believe young black boys can see they can be president,' she said.
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Older Talkback
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Barack Obama as next President of The United States of America
The die is cast and for reasons that only a privileged few know, you Sir, will be the next President of the United States of America. Your next 4 years will be a turning point in US history and planet earth. CHANGE, your advisors and high stake investors offer the nation will undoubtedly be the same rhetoric and empty promises that make up a political campaign, that campaigns for appointment for any public office in America.
The White House will be the Black House to some, the Aryan Brothers of America will not be so happy, but yet will blame you and your staff if you fail, which will reinforce their belief that the Aryan Nation is the true leader for America. The religious zealots will be busy bees making nests to survive the onslaught of lies, corruption and deceit. Business enterprises and other competing nations will capitalize off of your inexperience in the art of corruption and murder. The organized crime organizations from different nations including our own will benefit from the lack of control over national crime.
Military governments including our own will test your tolerance to pain and deception and trick you into needless and profitable domestic and international conflict. You will no doubt attempt to colorize your staff to soften the race conflict once in office.
As President you will be President. Nations will respect you only for your title of office. Americans will soon see after your appointment as President that your intentions were manipulated by those that make the rules. You will fill the spot in history as planned, and nothing more.
You will never while in office be able to pull the troops from conflict in any land we are engaged in. As a matter of fact we as a nation will be engaged in a new conflict of war, which will galvanize Americans to seek a different form of government and a different and honest Congress.
You will attempt to shore up Americas problems with false promise and lies, because you cannot directly affect the CHANGE you promised.
Your frustration will be your downfall while in office, and your co-dependence on those that you trust will also add to your demise.
Our Armed Forces in rank will respect you as good soldiers they are, but those under them will not, and for good reasons, that only a good soldier knows.
America will not be America until its government respects the People, and tells the truth. America is a Republic, not a Democracy or Fascist Government or is it?
Until you can walk thru the streets and neighborhoods of America unaided by Secret Service or any other law enforcement agency you will not be respected by the many, only by the fearful and selfish few. Americans can protect their leaders if they are honest and respectful of the people they were elected to serve. Our Government has forsaken us for many hundreds of years, and now we will wait until your 4 years are finished for us to come to fruition.
CHANGE FOR AMERICA FOR AMERICANS!
The American Republic
A Sovereign Republic
McCain Asks For Your Vote
My Friend,
From the time I entered the Naval Academy at age seventeen I have been privileged and honored to serve my country.
Throughout my years of service, I've been faced with challenges where I could have taken the easy way out and given up. But I'm an American and I never give up. Instead, I choose to show courage and stand up and fight for the country I love. Today, I am asking you to stand with me and to fight for our country's future.
Our country faces enormous challenges and our next president must be ready to lead on day one. My lifetime of experience has prepared me to lead our great nation. I'm prepared to bring solutions to our economic challenges, bring our troops home in victory and improve our nation's healthcare system.
Time and time again, my country has saved my life and I owe her more than she has ever owed me. I have chosen to show my gratitude through a life of service to our country and tomorrow, you will have a choice before you.
I humbly ask you to make the choice that will allow me to serve my country a little while longer by casting your vote to elect me as your next President of the United States.
Finally, I ask that you never forget that much has been sacrificed to protect our right to vote. We must never forget those Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, and with their lives, have protected our freedom. It is my great hope that you will exercise your right to vote as an American tomorrow.
I thank you for your kind support, your dedication to our cause, and most importantly I thank you for your vote.
With sincere appreciation,
John McCain
No John, no.
Let me tell you why. You are no longer a Maverick, you are only a sidekick. The sidekick of George W. Bush. In the last 8 years you have mostly supported the Bush 'train wreck', seldom veering either direction. You have spend the last 8 years supporting the idiots that completely smeared you with lies. They not only smeared you but they smeared your wife and family and then you hug the idiot that smeared you. You deserve to loose today and you deserve to loose big, and I can only hope that happens.
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joe irelandNov 4th, 2008 - 06:26:50
obama is not 'black' nor 'white'... he is an american
we have to get beyond these simpleton tags that have defined our history and look at people as people, by how they act, and treat others
his parents are black and white
you could equally say he is 'white'
these labels mean nothing unless we continue to use them to hinder history and live in the past
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