November 11, 2008 News

Evolution of a people

Montreal celebrates Obama’s triumph

by Ion Etxebarria

Churchgoers in Little Burgundy celebrated the win of American president-elect Barack Obama.
PHOTO Ion Etxebarria

“Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so [our] children will fly.” —Full Gospel Church congregation

No one would have believed a year ago that an American presidential election could raise as many hopes and emotions as the ones felt by people gathered at St. Joseph’s Church in Little Burgundy following the results last Tuesday.

Reverend Darryl Gray, pastor of Imani Family and Full Gospel Church and organizer of the gathering, described the heterogeneity of the crowd, ranging from teenagers to people in their 80s.

“People we see here resemble the diversity of Barack Obama’s campaign,” Gray said. “They reflect that the idea of bringing people together, of unity, has taken root in Canadian cities as well.”

“Living in South Carolina, I lived in a segregated community,” recounted Gray, who was born in the United States and was actively engaged in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. “I went to a segregated school, I drank out of segregated water fountains and used segregated toilets. I have seen the KKK. I have seen the cross burnings. I have seen the lynching of black males. I have seen it all. So for me to have witnessed that, to have known people like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Daisy Bates and Herbert Lee who died to make this dream a reality, it is of huge significance for me.”

Grey said that young minorities in Canada should feel motivated too, because “maybe in our life time we can see the election of a person of colour as prime minister here in Canada.”

Asked about the relevance of civil rights and social movements after Obama’s victory, Grey said, “There are things that the president can do, but there are things the president can’t do. The president cannot march, the president cannot boycott, the president cannot do civil disobedience, and so there is still work to be done because racism has not been destroyed; it has taken a big blow, but has not been destroyed.”

Bianti Curry, a young voter from Wisconsin, cheered Obama on and finally declared herself an American.

“For the last eight years when I was asked where I was from, I would say that I was Canadian,” Curry said. “This U.S. election campaign has inspired people from all walks of life.”

At 11 o’clock, after Barack Obama won seats in Pennsylvania and Ohio and was declared the 44th American president and the first president of colour in American history, emotion exploded in the room. Cheering and crying churchgoers slowly embraced each other as they united their voices singing, “Lift every voice.”

The final cry of churchgoers was, “Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so [our] children will fly.”

To find out about how to travel with the Full Gospel Church to watch the Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, please send an email to imanimtl@hotmail.com.