{"id":1308,"date":"2009-01-20T00:35:41","date_gmt":"2009-01-20T05:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/?p=1308"},"modified":"2010-09-03T18:32:51","modified_gmt":"2010-09-03T22:32:51","slug":"where-were-you-when-barack-obama-became-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/?p=1308","title":{"rendered":"Where were you when Barack Obama became President?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By NativeNewYorker<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1343 alignright\" title=\"obama2\" src=\"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/obama2.jpg?w=200\" alt=\"obama2\" width=\"160\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/obama2.jpg 267w, http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/obama2-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the question people will be asking each other for the next few weeks and the question our children and grandchildren will ask us a decade from now. For those who aren\u2019t making the trek to DC, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harlemonestop.com\/search.php?mode=browse&amp;category=1\" target=\"_blank\">HarlemOneStop<\/a> has a great listing of local events including live screenings of the inauguration at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nypl.org\/research\/calendar\/prog\/sch\/schdesc.cfm?id=5074\" target=\"_blank\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture<\/a>\u00a0(515 Malcolm X Boulevard at 135th Street, 11 am, FREE) and <a href=\"http:\/\/www1.ccny.cuny.edu\/current\/events\/events-detail.cfm?customel_datapageid_22068=1028449\" target=\"_blank\">City College <\/a>(Shephard Hall, 160 Convent Avenue, noon, FREE); parties at local restaurants including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hudsonrivercafe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hudson River Caf\u00e9 <\/a>(Lunch \/ Dinner \/Live Music, 697 W133th Street);\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.harlemonestop.com\/event.php?id=6277\" target=\"_blank\">Mobay<\/a> (all day\/all night, 17 West 125th Street); and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harlemonestop.com\/event.php?id=6258\" target=\"_blank\">Gran Piatto D&#8217;Oro<\/a> (11 am, 1429 Fifth\u00a0Avenue); as well as information on the largest inauguration day event in Harlem: <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.harlemonestop.com\/event.php?id=6223\" target=\"_blank\">Inauguration of a DREAM<\/a><\/em>, presented by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.democracyprep.org\/about\/history\" target=\"_blank\">Democracy Prep Charter School <\/a>at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.harlemonestop.com\/organization.php?id=425\" target=\"_blank\">Harlem Armory<\/a> (10 am-1:30, 40 W. 143rd St. between Lenox Ave. and Harlem River Dr; FREE; RSVP to <a href=\"mailto:Inauguration@DemocracyPrep.org\">Inauguration@DemocracyPrep.org<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For me, this is a day filled with joy, with pride and with hope.<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1344\" title=\"obama-victory-speech-nov-4-2008\" src=\"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/obama-victory-speech-nov-4-2008.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"obama-victory-speech-nov-4-2008\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/obama-victory-speech-nov-4-2008.jpg 550w, http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/obama-victory-speech-nov-4-2008-300x218.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><span>\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ll be watching the swearing in of our 44th president with my aunt, a lively octogenarian who has lived in Harlem for the last fifty years, who remembers the \u201cNo Coloreds\u201d signs in stores on 125th Street and who wept tears of joy the night Barack Obama was elected; and my daughter, a bright young woman who will be graduating from one of America\u2019s best universities this spring, who never experienced segregation but who knows well its living legacy; who has experienced special scrutiny from security guards, indifference from shop clerks; hostility from police officers and marginalization by majority students because of the color of her skin; who wants to believe in change but has already been taught to doubt her ability to make change<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1359\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1359\" style=\"width: 213px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1359\" title=\"nytimes-nov-5-2008_edited4\" src=\"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/nytimes-nov-5-2008_edited4.jpg?w=213\" alt=\"New York Times 11\/5\/08 \" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/nytimes-nov-5-2008_edited4.jpg 340w, http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/nytimes-nov-5-2008_edited4-213x300.jpg 213w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1359\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">New York Times 11\/5\/08 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>happen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I will be with them when I watch\u00a0Barrack Obama\u00a0take the oath of\u00a0office as Michelle Obama and their two young daughters, so like my own two girls at that age, stand beside him.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>It is hard to overstate what this inauguration will mean to us all and yet we all expect so much more of this man. <span>\u00a0<\/span>The night he was elected President, he said to the jubilant crowd in Chicago: \u201cThis is your victory.\u201d<span>\u00a0 <\/span>If we fail to help him achieve the change he has promised, it will be our failure.\u00a0 Each of us must\u00a0do our part to help him overcome the tremendous obstacles we are facing.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t find a way to come together to solve the enormous problems that face us \u2013 health care, education, the economy,\u00a0wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; then the failure will not be his, it will be ours.<span>\u00a0 <\/span>As we revel in the excitement and triumph of this day, let\u2019s also reflect on what each of us is prepared to do to make sure that doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By NativeNewYorker That\u2019s the question people will be asking each other for the next few&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":832535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124718155],"tags":[644475,15852057,7020989,3160424,15852056,2171548,33609,1070557],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1308"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8361,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions\/8361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/832535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}