“I thought he was going to win. My position was that the good Lord was for him, and that he was going to win if people just went out and voted. I said: ‘Go vote. Your vote might be the winning vote.’”
Young said she wasn’t surprised at all the hatred and vitriol directed at Obama during his first term, because racism still exists, and racists, “aren’t going anywhere until the Lord calls them.”
“Imagine them calling for a revolution [she was referring to the secession petitions] against any other president,” she said.
But now that Obama is in his second term, Young said she is looking forward to many things.
Among other things, she’s looking forward to women sporting First Lady Michelle Obama’s bang hairstyle in the same way women sported Jackie Kennedy’s pillbox hat in the 1960s.
“She set a trend with the sleeveless dresses. After a while, all of us will be wearing bangs,” Young said.
But most of all, she’s looking forward to seeing Obama continue to defy the legacy of racists who lynched and marginalized black people who suffered through the times she lived through.
I hope to see him do that too – by aggressively pushing for the hope and change that was his campaign mantra in 2008 and that emerged in the progressive values he laid out in his inaugural speech. Change that will, more than likely, continue to make this country a very different place from the one that Young once had to endure.
Hope that made Young don her walking cane, her mink hat and coat, and some glittery pink boots to make another journey in her life; on the train to D.C. to witness history once again.
“Words can’t express how I feel,” she said. “All I can say is that it’s the good Lord.”
“I’m not lucky. I’m just blessed. I feel amazing.”
—
Tonyaa Weathersbee is an award-winning columnist based in Jacksonville, Fla. Follow her @tonyaajw. Or visit her webpage and blog, “Tonyaa’s Take,” at www.tonyaajweathersbee.com.
For This 91-Year-Old, Obama’s Inauguration Marked as Historic Life Journey was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
