DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 11:57 p.m. November 04, 2008
ELECTION 2008
Crowd at Ebenezer celebrates historic election
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
A few seconds before 11 p.m., the crowd at Ebenezer Baptist Church started counting off the seconds, as if at a football game: “Five, four, three, two, one …”
On the hour, CNN projected Obama as the president-elect, and the sanctuary erupted in a shrill noise like a jet taking off.
KENT D. JOHNSON/kdjohnson@ajc.com
Hana Safeeullah, 8, and her mother, Barbara, join a candlelight vigil and prayer service Tuesday night near the King Center.
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People jumped up and down in the pews, raised their arms to heaven, and many began to weep.
“It’s the spirit of God,” said Annette Gay of Atlanta as she buried her face in her hands and burst into tears.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” Cassandra Mason, a teacher at Druid Hills High School, repeated to herself, her eyes rimmed with tears. She took a moment to compose herself and then said, “I never thought I’d see a black president in my life. Just think what this means to children all over the world.”
The Rev. Raphael Warnock walked to the pulpit and quieted the crowd. He quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Mountaintop” speech, in which King said “I have been to the mountaintop. I have seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but we as a people will get to the promised land.”
Warnock paused for effect, then said, “Tonight we have seized the promise of America.”
It was a night like no other at Ebenezer, which in a real way spanned Obama’s historic election with the civil rights movement that went before it.
Even though the sanctuary was filled to bursting with 2,000 people, Chris Jones felt he was close enough outside, pressing his forehead against the church’s front door. Jones had come from his College Park home to feel a part of history, watching as the number flashed on a big-screen TV inside. He tallied the votes against reports he got on his BlackBerry.
“Just 40 years ago, we weren’t even allowed to vote,” said Jones, a black man. “Now, we’re about to elect an African-American president.”
Jones’ wife, Lakieshia Jones, agreed.
“We want to be here to see history in the making,” she said. “I mean, being here is much bigger than watching it on TV.”
Martin Luther King III said, “This goes far beyond feeling good. This is great, that we have made it to this point in our nation. America will be a better America because of Obama’s election.”
The moment the pollsters projected Obama victory, the blaring of horns filled the streets outside. A stranger hugged Vernita Clayton, and Clayton, a recent Atlanta transplant, hugged him right back.
“Everybody needs this, not just one race of people,” said Clayton, a retiree from Wisconsin. “History’s being made. I’m honored to be here.”
Amanda Garcia and her friend Lauren Polansky held Obama signs and grinned at people they didn’t know. Both are graduate students at Emory, and both were excited by what they saw.
“We wanted to come here and see the energy,” Garcia said. “This is one of the seminal places of the civil rights movement.”
A huge crowd, including U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), former U.N. ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and King’s surviving children, Martin and the Rev. Bernice King, and his sole remaining sibling, Christine Farris, had gathered early for what was billed as the “Victory in the Village.”
Recalling the experience for ABC News, Lewis said, “Earlier tonight, I was at Ebenezer Church speaking to a group — hundreds or thousands of citizens. When Pennsylvania went over to Barack Obama, I shouted for joy, and I didn’t know I could jump so high. I think I’m going to shed more tears before the night’s over.”
Stirring the crowd just as it arrived, the Rev. Al Sharpton said, “Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life so a man of color could be president — or a woman be vice president.”
After a short prayer service, the crowd poured into Ebenezer, where two large-screen televisions were set up for people to watch the returns. People stood in the aisles. An overflow of 1,000 who could not get in stood outside, rapping on the windows, trying unsuccessfully to get people to raise them so they could hear the proceedings, which included a gospel choir.
As he watched the crowd pass, 8-year-old Kielan Freeman of Atlanta enthusiastically shouted: “Momma! Momma, I see Obama!”
His mother, Diane, gently responded: “No, dear, he is in Chicago.”
Monica Rucker of Atlanta could just barely make out that CNN had called Pennsylvania for Obama. A roar could be heard from the sanctuary.
“This is like seeing the dream fulfilled,” Rucker said.
Over at the King Center, people strolled to the reflecting pool where the remains of Dr. Martin Luther King and his wife, Correta Scott King, are entombed. They posed for photos, held hands and waited.
Among the crowd were Lela Walden, 39, of Anchorage, Alaska, and her 3-year-old daughter, Angel MiLee. She held a hand-lettered sign that read “Alaska Loves President Barack Obama.”
“This is an historic occasion,” Walden said. “People are here because this is where Dr. King was. Now people want their voices to be heard.”
Three white carnations lay atop the reflecting pool, and a long piece of paper rested underneath the flowers. On it someone had written: “Dream realized.”
Around the corner at the Silver Star Barber Shop, L.J. Perkins of Atlanta nursed a cup of apple juice and watched election returns on the TV. The shop, with six chairs, is a half-block from Ebenezer Baptist Church.
“Today,” she said, “I Barack’d my vote.”
Outside, Robert Welsh bounced on his heels and smiled as people swirled past him outside. There was no place he would rather be, the 29-year-old Atlanta resident said.
“Right here, this was the birth of the movement.”
— Staff writers Jim Auchmutey and Mark Davis contributed to this report.
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