By Ivan Pereira
For the black community of southeast Queens, Tuesday night’s victory for Barack Obama was a momentous chapter in the neighborhood’s history of civil rights reform.
As it became evident at around 11 P.M. that the Illinois senator had become the first black candidate to be elected president of the United States, thousands of residents celebrated in the streets of Jamaica, St. Albans, Laurelton and Springfield Gardens. The Democratic victory was very poignant for the community’s elderly population, according to Donovan Richards, the district manager for City Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton), who was working Tuesday out of Obama’s headquarters in Springfield Gardens.
During a celebration party at the office, Richards said, many of the older voters broke down because they never thought they would live to see such a historic victory.
“A lot of them were from the South,” Richards said. “They witnessed the dogs, the firehouses and the lynchings, so this was amazing for them.”
Younger voters, who lined up with their elders in huge crowds at polling places throughout the day, ran up and down the streets, chanting “Obama, Obama” throughout the early morning hours in a safe and controlled manner, he said.
The momentum carried over to the Wednesday morning in spots like Jamaica Avenue, where small business owners draped their store windows and awnings with Obama’s picture and campaign statement “Yes We Can,”
“This is a start of a movement. Now they know their vote counts,” Richards said.
The victory was particularly meaningful to southeast Queens residents, according to Sanders, because many had directly contributed to Obama’s victory. The councilman, who was in Ohio Tuesday to rally support for Obama, said many of his constituents jumped on board immediately when he and his fellow leaders organized bus trips to battleground states to get out the vote.
Tuesday’s victory belonged to them, Sanders said,
“If there ever were heroes, they were the folks on the front lines,” he said. “I am proud to have led those efforts in southeast Queens.”
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
