An American election – part 5
Author: Hoger
The day after America elected its first African American president I decided to take a wander around Harlem. I took the above photo at the Apollo Theatre on West 125th St, where entertainers like James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight got their start.
The mood in Harlem was vibrant and enthusiastic. I talked to a few people and they were proud of the Obama (or “OB” as many referred to the president-elect) win. They were proud because they had voted for a candidate they wanted rather than just having to settle for a candidate who they thought was the lesser of two evils.
Stalls peppered the streets but there wasn’t much election paraphernalia on offer. Mostly it was just incense stall after incense stall but a few enterprising souls had t-shirts with a picture of Obama and a line saying “We did it”. My favourite was the t-shirt that said: “He’s my president. And he’s black.” (In the interests of full disclosure – I bought my Obama 08 hat yesterday).
I’m working on a post about the main reasons Obama won. I’ll hopefully have that up tonight or tomorrow.
Tags: US eletion
