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An Inauguration to Remember
continued
Jk from Front
then ( )regon was not the place
it is today, says Lenard who
recalls A frican-A m ericans not
being able to walk down the
street without being hassled.
" I've seen a whole ol changes
in my lifetime. And i like what I
see going on," Lenard says.
"W e 'v e c o m e a long w ay ,
brother."
Lenard hopes that Obam a's
inauguration will encourage fu­
ture generations to work hard
and seize the opportunities avail­
able to them.
"The door is open now. If
th e y d o n 't w a lk in it, it's
nobody's fault but their own,"
he says.
Lorraine Thom pson, 67, is
hoping that as president O bam a
will enhance access to jobs and
medical care.
"A m erica needed change,"
sa y s T h o m p so n , w ho w as
pleased to see people o f varying
backgrounds coalesce around
the candidate.
"I am so excited about that,
and so honored, and so proud,"
says Jul Karp, a 7()-year-old at
the center, on having an A fri­
can-A m erican as president. She
says that is she am azed that the
country has gotten this far and
is happy to see people united.
" I think he's extraordinary,"
says C J . H am ilton, 63, w ho
expects O bam a to create o p ­
p o rtu n ities that w eren't there
b efo re.
"This is a very precious day,"
says D'Norgia Price, the direc­
tor o f adult and senior services
program for the Urban League.
G ro w in g up in C h ic a g o ,
Price rem em bers attending as
many marches and demonstra-
‘A.S’ long as he
keeps his hands
in God hands,
he ’ll be alright, ’
‘A very
precious
day,’
--Ada Lee Little
--D’Norgia
Price
‘America needed
change, ’
- Uirraine Thompson
‘I ’m hoping
we ’ll all come
together, ’
7 see
people
pulling
together, ’
- Dorothy Rogers
‘We’ve
repositioned
ourselves, ’
- W ilma Alcock
- Sunshine Dixon
tions as possible in support of
the civil rights movem ent, and
hearing about people risking life
and limb to be able to vote.
"It brings everything into fo­
cus about what all that work
w as for," says P rice o f the
culmination o f events.
"I remember picking cotton.
I rem em ber breaking com . I
rememberpulling peanuts," says
82-year-old Dorothy Rogers of
grow ing up in rural Louisiana.
She rem em bers her father do­
ing backbreaking work for very
little money and leaving for the
Northwest in the 1940s.
"I'm hoping we'll all come
together," she says, and adds,
"I had a hunch that I'd live to inauguration and is hoping it
will inspire future generations
see it."
“As long as he keeps his to take advantage o f opportu­
hand in G od's hand he'll be nity.
A television, softly blaring
alright," says Ada Lee Little 73.
Little hopes that the country coverage o f the inauguration, is
will be more united because, quieted as A lcock steps up to
"it's better to be closer than far recite a poem expressing her
apart because that's how God jo y that the nation has over­
com e past problem s and takes
wants it to be."
W ilma Alcock, a 70-year- a big leap forward.
Shortly afterward. Sunshine
old who grew up in Portland,
D
ixon
steps up to recite a poem
re m e m b e rs the d a y s w hen
places in Portland w ere for she wrote on a sim ilar subject.
"There is a nation in every
"whites only."
" I see people pulling together baby bom," says Dixon as she
to make this nation w hat it concludes the poem.
"W e've re p o sitio n e d o u r­
should be: a place o f land and
liberty," she says o f O bam a's selves as allies and not adver-
‘It made me cry, ’
- Nicole Acosta
saries for the rest o f the world,"
says Dixon, a com m unity or­
ganizer at the center.
" It made me cry," said N icole
Acosta, a 30-year-old medical
assistant, betw een drags o f a
cigarette outside the center.
A costa is hoping that O bam a
will bring in a more inclusive
agenda.
Local School Celebrates
Presidential Inauguration
With hopes for
the future
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Before LaShawn Lee became
principal o f Faubion Public
School in northeast Portland, she
taught for 20 years. During that
time she had to confront a ques­
tion periodically raised by her
students: Why do we not have a
black president?
"I would give them the politi­
cally correct answer," said Lee,
who would explain that if they
worked hard and studied they
could achieve any goal, but had
trouble believing what she was
“You’re a g r e a t g u y ...
b u t w hen y o u ’re p la y ing,
y o u ’re different. A nd it
su re d oesn ’t seem like fun. ”
photos by J a KF. T homas /T hf . P ortland
telling them. Until now.
As Barack Obama was sworn
in as the nation's 44th president,
more Americans are feeling that
old wounds can heal,
"It's been like there's electric­
ity and static and energy in the
air," said Lee of the atmosphere at
Faubion. The school has gone to
great lengths to celebrate the
culmination of the long and try­
ing path for equality and justice
that was traveled for this moment.
On a wall in a hallway at
Faubion is a collage of small bits
of paper of differing shades of
color that are deftly arranged in
the likeness of Civil Rights icon
Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack
Obama. Lining the pictures are
notes from the kids addressed to
the two men expressing their
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O bserver
Faubion Elementary Principal LaShawn Lee helps decorate the
school cafeteria for a community celebration to mark the
inauguration o f Barack Obama as the first black president.
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hopes for the future.
Takiy ah Williams, teaches first
grade at the school, and said that
she has stressed to the kids the
importance of King's legacy, and
how Obama is an heir to it.
However, she hopes they learn
more than that. She wants them to
know that they truly can achieve
anything with enough hard work.
" Hard work makes a whole lot
of difference," said Williams, who
has a unique perspective on the
matter as an immigrant from the
Caribbean country of Trinidad
and Tabago.
In the cafeteria, all the tables
were taken out where the kids
dine each day for a special cel­
ebration. They were replaced by
t
round tables with white cloths.
Balloons were scattered about
and portraits of King ad Obama
stood on either side of a stage set
up for a four-piece jazz band.
On Friday, Faubion put on a
gala to celebrate Obama's swear­
ing in. Lee said that the school's
budget was tight, but had a num­
ber of people step up and kick
down donations for the event.
Sheila Warren had a special
connection to the school. Her
daughter went there and her grand
daughter is currently attending.
She reflected on how pleased
she felt about O bam a's success
in breaking down barriers to get
elected and making the country
more united.
"Barack brought that out in
us,” she said.
»