News

Subscribe

A poignant day for Victoria's African-Americans

A black president means the reality of the American dream

  • Print
  • •
  • •
  • Post a Comment
  • •
  • Favorite
  • •
  • Report an error Report error
    • Thank you for your submission.
      Error report or correction
      Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  
      Sending report
    • Close
  • •
  • Aprill Brandon •
  • Originally published January 21, 2009 at 10:40 a.m., updated January 21, 2009 at 10:40 a.m.

With their eyes glued to the TV, Thomas Gibson and Ofelia Cordova waited with bated breath for President Barack Obama to finish taking the oath of office.

"Wow," Gibson, 69, sighed when it was over, clapping his hands and raising his fists victoriously in the air.

"Well, Mr. Gibson, we did it. We lived long enough to see this," Cordova, 62, said as she hugged him.

"Yes, we did," he replied. "Yes, we did."

The Family Table Restaurant, where the two work, was hosting an Inauguration Day viewing party Tuesday, and no one was more excited than those who worked there.

"I'm almost overwhelmed, for a lot of reasons. Not just because Barack Obama became president, but with everything that is happening with the country," restaurant owner Gibson said. "We are blessed to be in the land of the free."

Gibson is also pastor of Zion Tabernacle Christian Center in Victoria.

Customer Mat Offe came in on his lunch break specifically to watch news coverage of the inauguration.

"It's a transition in the notion of America, where anything is possible," Offe, 53, said. "This reinforces what it is to be an American, where a person from humble beginnings can become president."

Over at the Victoria County Senior Citizens Center, chairs and tables were set up around a large TV where small groups of people gathered to watch the news coverage of the historic day.

Margaret Peoples, 64, was thrilled that America had finally voted a black man as president, but said it isn't just up to him to change the country.

"One man can't change this country. We all have to back him," she said. "Everyone, black, white, Czech, German, Indian, Asian; all of us have to do our part."

I.B. Benavidez, 78, said he has great expectations of this new president.

"I'm humbled to have Obama as president and I hope people give him the chance to prove himself," he said. "I think we'll see changes not only in the U.S., but throughout the world. And I hope I live long enough to see all those changes."

Having lived through segregation and the civil rights movement, Betty Lott kept tearing up as she watched Obama become the most powerful man in the country.

"Right now, I feel really good, in so many ways. I felt the spirit when Aretha (Franklin) started singing," she said. "This means a lot to the whole world. Like Martin Luther King Jr. said, he would be glad when all the nation came together as one. That was his dream and his dream has come true."

Leonard Johnson said his pride wouldn't let him cry, but that didn't mean he wasn't close to it.

"My 5-year-old granddaughter called me and said 'We got a black president, Grandpa.' And chills just ran through me," he said. "I wouldn't miss watching this for nothing in the world."



  • Print
  • •
  • •
  • Post a Comment
  • •
  • Favorite
  • •
  • Report an error Report error
    • Thank you for your submission.
      Error report or correction
      Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  
      Sending report
    • Close
  • •