'New Day' For Black Community
This story was written by Stephanie M. Lee, Daily Californian
For Shannon Myricks-Jones, it often seemed like this moment would never come.
She grew up sharing a one-bedroom apartment in Long Beach with her six siblings and mother, who held down two jobs. While life at home wasn't easy, neither was studying African-American history as a young black woman at UC Berkeley.
To Myricks-Jones, 20, events like Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination overshadowed the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement-and made her question her place in America's future.
But things are changing now.
On a night that will endure in American history, Barack Obama was elected the first black president of the United States yesterday, handing John McCain a resounding defeat.
As the Illinois senator's campaign grew in momentum over the past two years, the idea of his presidency came to mean many things to many people. But for the black community in particular, last night was not merely a political victory. It felt like redemption.
"I am ecstatic!" Myricks-Jones shouted in a small apartment packed with cheering friends. "This is a milestone in African-American history. It's a new day."
As hundreds flooded local polling places, black voters said they were more than ready for the change that Obama has promised.
"He's changing states that were normally red states to blue states-they're tired of getting ripped off," said Maurice Davis, 49, of Oakland.
Ninety-five percent of black voters nationwide backed Obama, according to CNN exit polls. Many in Berkeley said he excites them because he speaks to their struggles in a way that few politicians before him ever did-or could.
"He's a black man-nobody else is going to understand your struggle as a minority in America except a minority himself," said UC Berkeley sophomore Tyler Camille Gipson, who, at 19 years old, voted for the first time. "As 'diverse' as they try to make Cal seem, it's not diverse. We're underrepresented, not just in the United States, but in our own school."
African Americans composed 6.7 percent of the student body in fall 2007, and nearly 10 percent of Berkeley's population in the 2006 U.S. Census.
Even before the results came in, those who have witnessed past elections were shocked that Obama went so far, so fast. Forty years ago, King was shot to death; more than 143 years ago, many African-Americans were slaves.
"He's definitely forced us to face a lot of our deep-seated fears and ignorances," said Calvin Watkins, 28, a local community college student who hopes that Obama will work to lower tuition.
But the senator is not without his critics, even in the liberal Bay Area.
"Don't think that one person can have that much effect on change on your life, regardless if he's black or white," said Charles Hargrave, a Republican who lost to Barbara Lee in the ninth Congressional District race.
As Obama prepares to take over the Oval Office, he faces the war in Iraq, a sinking economy at home and countless other challenges. Many wonder just how much he can accomplish.
"He needs to make some tough decisions that's going to disappoint some of his constituencies," said Waldo Martin, a UC Berkeley history professor.
Of the dozens of students who filled the apartment with Myricks-Jones last night, none knew what the future will hold. Yet as their bursts of song drifted into the streets below, the moment, right then, was enough.
"We shall overcome ..."