Obama's Victory Met With Tears and Traffic Jams

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They are dancing in the streets !


Obama's victory met with tears and traffic jams

By SHARON COHEN, AP National Writer Sharon Cohen, Ap National Writer


They danced in the streets, wept, lifted their voices in prayer and brought traffic to a standstill. From the nation's capital to Los Angeles, Americans celebrated Barack Obama's victory and marveled that they lived to see the day that a black man was elected president.

Jubilation stretched into the early morning Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and a large crowd paraded on Pennsylvania Avenue with drums, balloons and a life-size cutout of Obama.

By 4 a.m., a few young revelers lingered among the reviewing stands being built for January's presidential inauguration.

"I heard that he won and I instinctively came here," said Hollis Gentry, 45, who lives about six blocks away. "I came down here to make a prayer... that we'll be able to change the nation and the world."

In Philadelphia, thousands of blacks and whites converged at City Hall shortly after Obama was declared the winner. Under a light rain, they danced to the music blaring from car radios. Drivers stopped in the middle of the street, opened their car doors and broadcast Obama's acceptance speech.

"Barack is in the house!" shouted Pamela Williams, 46. "This is very important to me. Change is about to happen."

At Sadiki's restaurant in Philadelphia, the celebration poured out onto the sidewalk.

"Our parents left this planet thinking that we would never, ever see this day, when an African-American could be elected by all the people to the highest seat in the land," said Bernard Smalley Sr. His wife, Jacquelyn, wept.

The celebrations were both large big and small, but the sentiment was the same — pure joy over how far the country has come. People honked horns, high-fived each other and embraced.

"I was born in the civil rights time. To see this happening is unbelievable. We've got the first black president. A black president!" said Mike Louis, a 53-year-old black man who got teary-eyed as he watched the election results on a giant video board in Cincinnati's Fountain Square. "It's not cured now, but this is a step to curing this country of racism. This is a big, giant step toward getting this country together."

The roar of thousands of people gathered in a plaza near the legendary Apollo Theater in New York City's Harlem neighborhood could be heard blocks away.

In Cleveland, supporters gathered at a house party and held champagne flutes above their heads for a toast. "To the first African-American president in the history of the United States!" they shouted.

In Chicago, Obama's hometown, an estimated 125,000 people gathered on an unusually warm November night to greet the senator at a delirious victory rally at Grant Park.

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