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Election inspires Chagrin Falls Park neighborhood
(by Joan Demirjian - November 12, 2008)
Election inspires Chagrin Falls Park neighborhood
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
It took a long time coming, but change is here, according to Joseph Sanders, a resident of Chagrin Falls Park in Bainbridge who is active in the community center there. He spoke of last week's election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.
Chagrin Falls Park has a predominately African-American population that dates back to the 1920s and 1930s.
If someone had said in the 1930s that there would be an African-American president, Mr. Sanders said, people would have said, "I won't be here to see it."
He and other residents and volunteers at the community center talked last week about the impact of the election not only on the United States but on the world.
Mr. Obama's win shook the world, Mr. Sanders said. "We can show the world what can be done. Lord, thank you for this day."
Mr. Sanders, who was born in 1936, said, "I think of my kinsfolk and if they could see this. God has blessed America.
"What this country needs now is love. This country will move faster toward change. If we all get together we can do it," Mr. Sanders said.
Marie Stricklin, education coordinator at the community center, said Mr. Obama's election gives young African-American students the knowledge that "If they go after something, it can be achieved. The whole world is their stage."
Ms. Stricklin works with students in grades one through eight at the center. "They're very excited," she said. "And knowing this man of color is now their president gives young black males hope," she said.
"I knew it would happen one day, but I never thought I'd see it in my lifetime. It's what my ancestors fought for. What happened the other day is for generations to come."
But Ms. Sticklin added, "He has a lot on his shoulders and will depend on people's help. We are going to have to roll up our sleeves and get to work to be united as a people."
Lee Phillips is properties manager at the community center. "I was excited," he said of the election. "I never thought this day would come in my lifetime."
At 54, he said, he has seen the country torn apart in the civil rights movement, over voting rights and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy.
"I'm blessed to be here to see the country in unity and harmony," Mr. Phillips said. "I have great aspirations for President Obama. We saw people from all over the world who just wanted hope," he said of those who celebrated the election.
Mr. Obama is 47 years old "and not many years removed from when his own mother was getting food stamps," Mr. Phillips said. He knows the realities of the day, he said.
Joyce Studen, of Russell, is a longtime volunteer at the Chagrin Falls Park Community Center. "There is a quality he has that transcends color and class," she said. "Obama is unlike everybody and like everybody."
Mr. Obama's mother struggled, and he came from a biracial home. "Who among us hasn't felt we didn't fit in?" Mrs. Studen said. "And he is a model to African-Americans that you can be president. I didn't think I would see it either," she said.
"He communicated to people that, yes, they can make a difference," Mrs. Studen said. "And I think young people felt their voices were heard. Obama gives them an alternative. I think people want hope."
Lori Hilty coordinates the tutoring program for first through fifth grades at the community center. "Right now, I feel a lot of hope," she said. "The whole country is going through so much. It's a long time since someone has made me feel we are going to get through it and be in a better place than when we started."
She said the children in the tutoring program are so loving and so happy for the opportunity to be in the program. "We tell them you can do anything if you work hard enough," Ms. Hilty said.
Now, she said, "Everyone has to pitch in and do something. We have to give selflessly."
Helyne Walker is head of support services at the community center. "There are no words to explain the feelings. All of us did it together," she said.
"It was an important election." She said they had won even before the election, because Mr. Obama was in the running.
Mrs. Walkere said her daughters, ages 11 and 9, were in her bed with her on election night and fell asleep waiting for the election results. When they awoke, she told them the news, she said. "We did it. It was my 11-year-old daughter's birthday. It was her gift. I believe Obama can make changes."
Dee Richards, office manager at the community center, said there was a line out the door on Election Day morning, before the polls opened at the community center. It was overwhelming, she said.
She said she and her daughter, who is 19 and a student at Kent State University, "voted together on this glorious day. It was her first election and first year at Kent," she said.
"I'm blessed to see it in my lifetime," Mrs. Richards said of an African-American president. Mr. Obama's speech after his win was uniting, she said.
Stacy Krekus, 22, is recreation coordinator for the center. "It was surreal," she said of Mr. Obama's win. "It was overwhelming. This is history."
The economy is bad, and it will be an uphill battle for Mr. Obama to make changes, Ms. Krekus said. "But we're willing to work for it." It will be unusual to "live in a world that likes us," she said of the celebrations for Mr. Obama's victory by people from all over the world. "It's good to see others supporting us."
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