Barrow’s black leaders celebrate Obama win

“I am just thrilled; it’s something I have been praying for, that the day would come,” the Rev. Alfred Hazel said in an interview Wednesday morning. “I grew up in the Civil Rights Movement and went into the Labor Movement in 1970, where I worked for 38 years. One of the things we were working for was to get people registered to vote so we could make a difference.

“Last night was the fruition of all of my hopes and dreams, that America would look at Barack Obama and see him as an American and not an African-American. We are a nation of people and not just ethnic backgrounds.”

Hazel said he received phone calls until early Wednesday morning from friends around the United States.

“I got phone calls until about 2 a.m. this morning from all over the country – from Chicago, Louisiana, Florida, even from New York,” he said. “People are excited all over. I’m so excited about his being elected to the presidency of the United States of America. I’m no longer looking for my promised 40 acres and a mule.”

Obama’s election is going to bring racial healing to the nation, Hazel said.

“I think it’s bridged that great divide that had this country divided by political affiliations and racial and ethnic differences,” he said.

Kenny Lumpkin, a local businessman and president of the Brotherhood Club, Inc., a predominantly African-American civic group that focuses on at-risk youths, said Obama’s victory gives new hope to children.

“What this does is it gives every parent like myself an opportunity to sit down with their children and say, ‘You can do that,’” he said.

Lumpkin noted that Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration will fall one day after the national holiday commemorating the birthday of slain Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
“I think there will be formed a contingency of people who will make the trip to Washington to be part of that event,” Lumpkin said.

Winder City Councilman Charlie Eberhart said he believes Obama was destined for greatness.

“I think he was born, just like Martin Luther King was born, to break the racial barrier,” Eberhart said. “Barack Obama was born to become the first African-American president. I think it was God’s calling.

“I hope we can move this country forward in a right way and that all races will accept him for who he is, not for the color of his skin. When he made his victory speech last night, he said this is not a black America, it’s not a white America – it’s an America.”

Obama received 6,651 votes in Barrow County on Tuesday. That was 62 percent more local votes Democratic nominee John Kerry received in the 2004 general election (4,095) and 82 percent more votes than Al Gore received in 2000 (3,657).

Still, that number fell far short of McCain’s heavy draw of 17,613 votes in Barrow County.