Historic election prompts response from African-American community
Jack Willems
Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: News
"Obama stepped right into that niche," Jones said.
Obama's election is more important than the first African-American Supreme Court justice or secretary of state because the president is the most powerful person in the world, said Charles Robinson, an African-American professor of history at the UA.
Furthermore, Obama won the position through an election, not an appointment. The election signals that Americans are more accepting of diversity and inclusion, Robinson said.
"I think it is like the Emancipation Proclamation. When the Emancipation Proclamation was first signed, very few slaves were actually freed, but it signaled the direction the country was going in," Robinson said.
"It is the greatest election we've ever had," UA student Lensa Odima said. "The pains of the past were really healing."
Watching the election with friends, Odima remembers feeling goose bumps as the results came out. By the end of the night, she was crying, she said. Throughout the election season, Odima carried another emotion: frustration. Being only a permanent resident, she could not vote. Odima was born in Kenya, but has lived in this country since 1989. Her father knew Obama's father. Living as an African in the United States has been different, she said.
"You are not really African-American, but the rest of the world sees you as black," Odima said.
Odima was not the only Kenyan impressed with Obama. When Bernard Omogo saw that Obama had been elected, he felt like jumping up and down screaming, and he would have done so if he were back in his homeland, the Siaya district of Kenya, he said. Obama's father is from the same district, and Omogo's uncles went to primary school with Obama's father. When Obama visited his father's village in 2006, the villagers renamed the high school after Obama, he said.
"I guess they will have to rename the school again after President Obama," he said.
Obama has inspired Omogo's country, he said. Kenya sees Obama as a native son, and they are proud of his victory. Mwai Kibaki, the president of Kenya, declared Nov. 6 to be a public holiday in honor of Obama. The country hosted a mock U.S. election where Obama was elected in a landslide. Obama's victory will change how his country perceives America, Omogo said.
Obama's election is more important than the first African-American Supreme Court justice or secretary of state because the president is the most powerful person in the world, said Charles Robinson, an African-American professor of history at the UA.
Furthermore, Obama won the position through an election, not an appointment. The election signals that Americans are more accepting of diversity and inclusion, Robinson said.
"I think it is like the Emancipation Proclamation. When the Emancipation Proclamation was first signed, very few slaves were actually freed, but it signaled the direction the country was going in," Robinson said.
"It is the greatest election we've ever had," UA student Lensa Odima said. "The pains of the past were really healing."
Watching the election with friends, Odima remembers feeling goose bumps as the results came out. By the end of the night, she was crying, she said. Throughout the election season, Odima carried another emotion: frustration. Being only a permanent resident, she could not vote. Odima was born in Kenya, but has lived in this country since 1989. Her father knew Obama's father. Living as an African in the United States has been different, she said.
"You are not really African-American, but the rest of the world sees you as black," Odima said.
Odima was not the only Kenyan impressed with Obama. When Bernard Omogo saw that Obama had been elected, he felt like jumping up and down screaming, and he would have done so if he were back in his homeland, the Siaya district of Kenya, he said. Obama's father is from the same district, and Omogo's uncles went to primary school with Obama's father. When Obama visited his father's village in 2006, the villagers renamed the high school after Obama, he said.
"I guess they will have to rename the school again after President Obama," he said.
Obama has inspired Omogo's country, he said. Kenya sees Obama as a native son, and they are proud of his victory. Mwai Kibaki, the president of Kenya, declared Nov. 6 to be a public holiday in honor of Obama. The country hosted a mock U.S. election where Obama was elected in a landslide. Obama's victory will change how his country perceives America, Omogo said.
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