So I guess for the last eight years, you've had a cigarette constantly in your mouth. Well now you can have a pack and a smile and relax.
‘All Things Are Possible’
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Like many Chicagoans, Rabbi Edwards could scarcely contain a pride in the "Second City" for being at the forefront in breaking racial barriers in politics.
"It shows that things can change," said Edwards, wearing an Obama button and a smile. "In Chicago, all things are possible."
For many years, Tenner Hemphill, 66, had serious doubts. When she moved from North Carolina to Chicago in 1965, segregation went unquestioned, as blacks knew to stay on their side of the viaducts.
"I didn't dream I'd see this day," said Hemphill, who gazed in wonder at the victory rally, "but I'm so grateful that I did."
In the carnival atmosphere in Chicago on election night, where some signs celebrated the "Obama Palooza," it was impossible to miss scenes of whites and blacks in celebration together, a sight not so familiar, even in the Chicago of today, or in much of the rest of America, for that matter. But there were the high-fives being exchanged by white and black strangers on the streets, and hugs. As word became official, many taxicabs honked their horns. A white man in a working-class Chicago bar, where everyone sitting on a stool was white, stood and shouted at the flickering image of Obama on the screen, saying "awesome—this is what we need!"
Claudia Moss, a 26-year-old African-American student who came from California alone just to be part of the celebration, said she believed that a crucial threshold had now been crossed. "America has truly shown itself to be the melting pot it has long celebrated," she said. She said the Obama presidency would mean a historic throwing down of the gauntlet in challenge to African-Americans. "This raises the bar for us. There are no more excuses. We can't kick and blame. We've got to step up and make a difference."
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