Dancing in the streets, crying tears of joy, laughing with loved ones, hugging perfect strangers n this was how many millions of Americans, and especially African Americans, experienced the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s next president.
Momentous? Absolutely.
“It’s clearly a path that shows the bridging capability of President-elect Obama,” said Matthew J. Taylor, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Missouri St. Louis.
“This whole movement does say that we as a country have finally started to make some steps forward towards race being less of an issue for many of us.”
Cathartic? Sure, for many.
“These irrepressible tears and laughter most certainly confirms that African Americans, as a minority in a larger community, have felt constrained and repressed emotionally for a good long while,”
said Rafia Zafar, Washington University professor of English and African-American Studies at Washington University.
“I think a lot of people are just happy to see the Bush administration go. No matter if you are black or white, we’ve been through hard times over the last eight years,” said Collins Lewis, a psychiatrist at Washington University.
“The struggle for equality and political equality has finally been vindicated, at least at this level. There’s a whole lot of work to be done in that area, but having a president-elect that would be sympathetic to rights of minorities is important.”
Saint Louis University Assistant Professor of Psychology Chammie Austin said the outpouring of emotion represented, for many people, the culmination of a long struggle.
“They saw some of the fruits of their labors. I think we all recognize that his ascension to the presidency doesn’t mean we do not continue to address racial relations in our country, but we acknowledge this is a pretty significant step in our history,” Austin said.
“And for a lot of people he represented them or represented their struggles, so that’s why I think you saw black folks and non-black folks alike who were overjoyed with his being elected to the presidency.”
A time to forget? No.
“The thing I fear the most, perhaps, is in our feeling of joy that we think the battle is over and that we can sit back and everything will be fine,” Eugene Royster, sociologist at Harris Stowe State University, said of the election of Obama.
“He is going to need help, our nation is going to need help and our community in particular is going to need help.”
“I don’t think we dare let go n because if we let go, we are prone for a repeat,” said the Rev. James T. Morris, pastor of Lane Tabernacle CME Church.
“As the anthem said, ‘Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod.’ We must never forget.”
The Rev. Edmund Lowe Sr., pastor of Christ Our Redeemer AME Church in Florissant, said the election opened the doors of power and privilege for many who have been marginalized or maligned in the past.
“It gives America a chance to redeem itself for the many times it could have done the right thing, but didn’t. This is not an indictment of America, because America has afforded many of its people great opportunity,” Lowe said.
“This so-called ‘time of catharsis’ is not just a time of cleaning, but reconciling, reflection and introspection. We must now welcome and respect everyone that comes to the table n believe in them and their true personhood.”
Pastor Morris was elected as a new state representative in the 58th District on the same ballot that elected Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president.
His thoughts turned to his ancestors.
“My mind went back to my grandparents, and how they struggled for my parents to be all they could be and make sure my parents could attend college, and how my grandmother worked in white folk’s kitchens so that my mother could go to college,” Morris said.
“They saw the day coming n they knew they would not witness it in their lifetime, but they saw it coming. And I am just grateful to God that I was able to witness it.”
