January 20, 2009: Where Were You The Day America Changed?

JANUARY 20, 2009: 

Where Were You The Day America Changed for The Better?

Opinion By Will Bevis

There are several days in my life that I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when something happened. What about you? Do you remember when JFK was killed, MLK, and RKF?  How about the Cuban Missle Crisis? All of those things have one thing in common: They were horrible for the country, and for the world.

Now finally, we have a great thing to remember - January 20, 2009 - The day Barack Obama was inaugurated President of the United States of America.  A Day America was finally changed for the better.

Will you remember where you were at that day?  Were you in the crowd of 2 million braving the cold in Washington to witness the event? Or were you at home witnessing history from the comfort of your easy chair in front of a big screen TV?

I'm afraid the moment was not that glamorous for me.  Right before the inauguration, I was looking out a bathroom window, utterly amazed at what I saw.

I had gone to the Gadsden Convention Center to be with other people who believed this was indeed a great day. There were somewhere around a hundred of us there. And the minutes were slowly building up to the conclusion: the swearing in.

When there was a brief lull in the "action" I, being human, decided it might be a good time to take a bathroom break. It had been cold that morning, 24 degrees in Gadsden, and with a slight stiff breeze making it even chillier.  But the sun was burning bright.

And when I went into the men's bathroom at the Convention center, I walked in and a big window was facing me with such beautiful light coming through it that I immediately went over to it and looked out.

And out that window I saw three things right in a row.  And it took me a moment to realize what I saw and the significance of it, because I saw all three at once... and then had to think about them one at a time.

The first thing I saw, and closest to me, was the brand new digital sign Gadsden had erected to the East.  It had scrolling red digital words, and the first words I saw were these: JANUARY 20, 2009.

That to me... is the future.  A new digital sign right here in an old Alabama town.

The second thing I saw was the old bridge for cars, crossing the Coosa River.  The same bridge at the head of which is a statue of a man who rode his horse during the Civil War to warn East Alabamians and Georgians that... The Yankees are Coming!

And then beyond that, the third thing I saw was the old Railroad bridge: the one from which an African American man was lynched without a trial... not all that many years ago, as far as history goes.

All three things could be seen 1, 2, 3, from the window I looked out of, at the convention center, while waiting a few more minutes, for America to change for the better.

I looked at this for a few moments... then went back inside the convention hall and sat down.

On the screen, President Carter came out and there was a large applause for him, he, who, just happens to be my favorite President.

Then President Clinton came out, but there was slightly less applause for him.

Then I knew it was time for President Bush to come out, and I wondered if there would be any applause for him at all. I knew, that if there were some, it would not be coming from me.

But I couldn't stay to find out.  And I guess I'll never know, unless someone who was in the room tells me.

Because at that moment I left, to be with my friend, the publisher of THE REPORTER, Ms. Theresa Beverly, at her office.  

She had not been feeling well and didn't want to attend the convention hall gathering, so I went over there to witness the final moments of a bad administration, and the begining seconds, of a new one, with her.

And as we waited the final moments, I happened to mention to her what I had seen out the bathroom window.

And she told me, that the man who had been lynched... had been one of her relatives.

There are many people who say, forget the past, it's over.

No it's not. It's still here.  

That lynching has not been forgotten.  Not by the African American community that lives here, and certainly not by the relatives of the man lynched. 

And the relatives of the 3,000 or so other African Americans who were lynched across the South has not been forgotten by them or their communities either.

That is one reason why January 20, 2009 is such a great day.  In the past, many presidents did nothing at all, when such attrocities were committed.

Now we have good reason to believe... that the new president WOULD stand up and stop such horrible things from ever becoming so commonplace as they once were.

Then came the moment... and President Barack Obama... was sworn in.

Things had, in one breath, and one oath, suddenly become better for all of us.

I noticed it immediately, even in the attitude of the big paper in town. Whereas when Obama won the election, they printed his victory in probably the smallest headlines possible: Obama wins.

Now though, they are printing bigger headlines such as OBAMA READY TO LEAD.

And even a sentence saying, "He (Obama) deserves our respect."

Can you imagine that?

Change has come.

Even to Gadsden, Alabama.

I am a witness to that change - even if I witnessed it from a bathroom window.


Will Bevis.
January 24, 2009.