1 2

(Enlarge) O.H. Laster, a museum board member of the Howard County Center of African American Culture, helps prepare an exhibit of Barack Obama memorabilia Jan. 12 to commemorate the election of the country’s first black president. (staff photo by Nicole Martyn)

Hope is on the minds and in the hearts of many people, locally and nationally, as they await the Inauguration of Barack Obama.

Hope that the current economic crisis and the urgent foreign policy questions facing the nation will be solved and answered.

Hope that his election will allow blacks and other minorities to dream big.

Hope that the ideals of equality on which Columbia was founded could spread to the nation as a whole.

Watching Obama take the oath of office next week is far more than a political formality; for many in Howard County and beyond, the event is heavy with symbolism. The collective weight of society's expectations fall on Obama's shoulders and millions will look to him with hope and longing for a better future.

With such a historic event only days away, local residents are reflecting on what the Inauguration means to them and what they think it will mean for the country.

'It means so much'

For someone who marched in the civil rights movement and participated in sit-ins, the opportunity to watch a black person become president of the United States is something C. Vernon Gray thought would never come in his lifetime.

The words of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the song known as the black national anthem, came to him as he expressed his feelings about the Inauguration. "Out from the gloomy past," the song goes, "our bright star is cast."

"Here's the election, and it's historic, and it means so much to African Americans and people of color," Gray said. "When Dr. (Martin Luther) King talked about reaching the promised land, this could be one of the things he might have been referencing ... This is a huge step in that direction."

Gray, 69, blazed his own political trail by becoming the first black member of the Howard County Council in 1982 and now oversees the county's Human Rights Office, which investigates discrimination complaints and upholds local human rights laws.

He will be one of the millions in Washington watching what he sees as a predestinated moment in history.

"It seems as if he was on a path," Gray said of Obama. "As if this had been ordained in this time and place and year, that he'd be able to accomplish this unprecedented election."

It is those expectations that may pose some of the strongest challenges Obama will face in his presidency.

With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a crisis in the Middle East, a struggling national economy and ballooning deficit, the number of urgent problems facing Obama are legion, according to Jerrold Casway, division chair of the social sciences/education department and professor of history at Howard Community College.

"I don't think any president, including (Franklin) Roosevelt in 1932, was facing as many serious challenges as Obama is right now," Casway said. "How he handles that, of course, is going to determine the future of his presidency."

Spotlight on black culture

Beyond just the political, some in the black community hope the Inauguration will bring a spotlight to their culture and offer new opportunities for expression.

"We, as African Americans, have an enormous opportunity in this stage of history to showcase to the world some of the cultural aspects of things that we have done," said Laurence Hurst, 56, a visual artist and curator at the Howard County Center of African American Culture in Columbia. "The world will reassess what being African American or being black is all about."

As part of that, the center is displaying an exhibit of Obama photographs and magazine covers from the campaign, with plans to take the exhibit to local schools and other county locations.

Some tour groups, coming to Washington for the Inauguration, have plans to visit the center in Columbia as part of their trips, Hurst said.

For Hurst, Obama is a symbol to all black Americans of what can be achieved.

"Hope really shines when you can see the change in leadership, changes so significant that the everyday, ordinary person can realize that they can aspire to new goals and aspirations," he said. "It gives you hope that maybe I can do that, maybe I can reach that."

The idealism of Obama's supporters and the talk of a "post-racial society" reminded one retired minister of the racial, ethnic, religious and other equality on which Columbia itself was founded.

Gilbert Caldwell, 75, a retired United Methodist minister and former Columbia resident now living in New Jersey, said he was initially drawn to the Columbia because of "what it stood for -- diversity and a commitment to inclusivity.

"In some ways, society is slowly catching up with the vision of Columbia," he said. "It just seems to me what Columbia is complements the vision that (Obama has) articulated."

Race has long been an uncomfortable topic in America, but James Rouse and the early residents in Columbia confronted the subject directly in trying to form a cohesive, integrated community, Caldwell said.

"Obviously Columbia has done some talking," he said. "Its very being, its very diversity, shows that."

Ulman seeks an ally

Race, however, is merely one of the lenses through which Obama is viewed. Democrats have high hopes that Obama can move issues they consider important high on the nation's agenda.

County Executive Kenneth Ulman, who has made alternative energy, the environment and health care three major planks of his administration, hopes Obama will turn out to be a friend in the White House.

"It's a tremendous benefit to have a president who has a vision of some of the same things we're trying to do locally," Ulman said. "If the Obama administration is able to really spur investment in alternative energy and energy efficiency, it'll really help local jurisdictions like Howard County move forward with our agenda. There's only so much we as one county can do alone."

Initial indications from the Obama team that they want to get aid to local governments as part of an overall economic stimulus package are heartening, Ulman said. "It shows we're really in this together," he said.

Sherman Howell, vice president of the African American Coalition of Howard County, has high hopes the Obama legislative agenda can be fulfilled. Many of the issues -- the economy, education, energy and housing -- are local as well as national issues, he said.

"He's going in the right direction, and we hope to see some progress there," Howell said. "The good thing is we have a person who's a former activist, and he's focused on the same issues we are focusing on out here in Howard County."

Casway said the last time an incoming chief executive seemed to have this much energy around his Inauguration was John F. Kennedy after his 1960 election. Then, as now, a young president was coming into office promising change, he said.

If things work out in his favor, it could be a "significant political and social watershed" for the country, he said.

"If he can resolve those problems, he's not only set for a second term, but he has the possibility to be one of the most successful, dynamic presidents in our history," Casway said.

user comments (0)