America’s Finest Hour

The first African-American President of the United States was declared elected at 8 p.m. on Nov. 4.

It seemed like a peoples’ revolution to the hundreds of thousands gathered in Grant Park, Chicago, and around the world. And indeed, it was a revolution in the culture of the dominant country in the world.

It seemed like a miracle to the descendents of slaves and those who were legally segregated until the 1960s. 

Future historians may be amazed that it happened without violence in an often violent nation. There was no civil war, no division into warring camps. Indeed, the country came together more than it has been in many years.

It must seem shocking to people around the world that a nation they have been reviling for at least eight years would elect a Black man with an African name, Barack Hussein Obama.

But it was an act of redemption for millions who had been shamed by the Bush administration’s violations of American and international law. 

The disgust of voters with the previous regime, and the superb campaign run by Barack Obama and thousands of volunteers, have combined to give us all a second chance. Let us make the most of it.

————

Meanwhile in Venice, anyone out on the streets around 8 p.m. Nov. 4 could hear cheers and horns honking as news came that Barack Obama had won the election for President.

One Latina, with tears in her eyes, exclamed, “We can’t be free until Black people are free.” 

At one Venice precinct, a Beachhead reporter tried to conduct an exit poll, but stopped after the first 12 people said they had voted for Obama.

Don Geagan reported that at least 1,000 Venetians turned out to vote at the Electric Lodge, where he was a poll worker. Final Venice results will be included in next month’s Beachhead.