Obama Sighting Part 2

This was the scene if you were in the crowd outside Calvin Coolidge High School. Thanks Mark for being such an awesome photojournalist.

BREAKING NEWS: Michelle and Barack Obama Sighting

What made this sighting special was not actually seeing Barack and Michelle Obama. It was seeing and hearing the PEOPLE! The joy, the excitement, the tears, the screams, the families - you will see it all here.

Mark positioned himself at the end of the barricade. He was able to get this coveted photo of the presidential limousine. I mainly concentrated on the crowd.

The first video shows the crowds' reaction at 1:30 when Michelle Obama's motorcade went by they first thought it President-elect Obama.



Second is the crowd's excitement 8 minutes later when it was clear the motorcade was coming our way. He is in the second limousine, which Mark and the secret service referred to as the "BEAST." Obama is in the backseat. The entire experience lasted 38 seconds.



For the folks there - they will remember seeing American's first black president on the eve on his inauguration on MLK Day for the rest of their lives. Who would have ever thought THIS was possible? The man with the strange name. Obviously, this explains Dr. King's Dream because I am seeing it too.

After the motorcade rolled down the hill, it began snowing again.

Nightswimming

There's something I do that I basically call "nightswimming." When I have too many complex thoughts or if I am emotionally blocked, I often find clarity by just walking the streets alone at night. I also do this when I am introduced to a new city or like this weekend during a major event. No pictures, no video, just me and my thoughts. It's amazing what you see in the dark when you aren't being shuttled down the street in a car, taxi or limo.

I strolled for an hour around 3 a.m. I started at Thomas Circle and 14th Street and walked all back to the house 13th and U Street.

It was about 20 degrees and the residential neighborhood was nestled snugly among all of the ongoing inaugural festivities. However, the only thing I could hear were the sounds of my own footsteps on the frosty pavement and the breeze whistling through the trees.

The thought of America's first black president became very real to me in the sense that this changes EVERYTHING. The world has forever changed. But what happens now?

10 minutes into my walk I noticed I was passing by the The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House: African American Women Unite for Change.

Like me, she was born in South Carolina and was the descendant of slaves. Without going through her entire history, Mary founded what is know today as Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. I couldn't help but feel a since of pride and responsiblity. It seemed as if my life had taken a similar path as Mary's. In the neighborhood surrounding the house is a diverse mix of residents who seemed to be living in harmony even though the front page of newspapers still showed images of a world plunging into a deep decline.

I felt a sense of responsibility, knowing there are things I should be doing to pull my friends, family and country out of this slump.

Before going home, I walked past the Chili Bowl where there lines of people including women in mink coats and ball gowns quietly shivering in the cold as the overnight crew frantically completed never-ending orders of hot dogs and sandwiches. Across the street families who drove in from Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey, Connecticut and Alabama were lining up to get photos taken with a huge poster print of the first family.

I entered the house knowing that when the sun came up in two hours it would be MLK day and the masses would continue to arrive to witness history on Tuesday.

It started snowing as I closed the door.

The Obama Wall on U Street

There's an upscale restaurant on the corner of U Street across the street from the Marion Barry Center that has a European, yet bohemian feel about it. We are told that this is a Belgian restaurant fused with southern cooking. What stops you in your tracks is the outside wall that is blanketed with some dramatic posters of Barack and Michelle Obama. Art is subjective and you have to allow yourself to see the world through some someone else's. eyes. I believe this would be a bigger tourist attraction if more people knew where to find it.

The first piece that captures your attention is the huge Obama "PROGRESS" portrait in bold black, red and blue colors. Next to it is the highly-debated, yet thought provoking, portrait of Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama's faces merged together. The passerbys we spoke to had no idea until I pointed it out to them. Obama has said on many occasions that he feels a kinship with Lincoln. The other provocative print is the vision of Michelle Obama as a radical Black Panther.

In the photo with me is a woman named Janelle who I met on the sidewalk. She is from Tampa and now lives in D.C. She painted a picture of this mural. I will post it when she emails it to me.

If you want to see this wall for yourself, you have to view it soon. Bulldozers and construction crews are already there to construct a new building over the wall.

Our History IS American History

Born and raised in the South Carolina, I am particularly interested in any type of history that details the role African-Americans played in the Civil War. On U Street is the African-American Civil War Museum. The images from the statue are compelling. The front side shows soldiers who fought on land and on the seas. The other side shows why these men decided to fight. I will update this post with more details later.

1968 Riots

Today our hosts we took a walk to a restaurant called Annie's. Along the way, we walked through the area where the 1968 riots occurred in Washington, D.C. The Washington, D.C. riots of April 4–8, 1968 erupted with the April 4, 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

You can learn more here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Washington,_D.C._riots

To show how times have changed, Ed and John told us joyous residents flooded the streets for peaceful celebrations when Obama was declared the winner on election night.



Here's video and a photo of Mark and me outside the Marion Barry Center on the corner.