DENVER
They came to witness the moment.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama will step to the podium tonight before 80,000 cheering Democrats at Invesco Field and become the first African American to accept a presidential nomination from a major political party.
Among the smiling faces in the throng will be a score or so of black Virginia politicians who grew up in segregation, struggled to tear down walls and build their own public careers - and never thought they'd see a day like today.
"Not in my lifetime," said state Sen. Henry Marsh of Richmond, a lawyer who spent decades suing corporations for equal opportunities and school boards for integration. "I thought my sons and daughters would see it."
State Sen. Yvonne Miller of Norfolk worked to get the first blacks elected to local offices in her city and in 1984 became the first black woman to win a seat in the General Assembly. "This is something I did not expect to witness, and I am an eternal optimist," Miller said.
Marsh and Miller are delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Others have no official role in the nomination but used their connections to acquire hard-to-get tickets to the convention - because they had to be here.
Del. Kenneth Melvin of Portsmouth and his wife are here as special guests of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. Melvin is flying in his two sons, ages 25 and 21, to see Obama's speech today.
"Barack is what my sons are looking for as far as an example in their lives," he said.
Former Chesapeake Mayor William Ward decided at the last minute to come when he was able to find a scarce hotel room 10 miles outside Denver.
"I want to see history being made," he said.
And former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who made history of his own in 1989 by becoming the first African American elected as governor in the United States, came as a self-professed "free spirit."
"To me, personally, it means that yes, this can happen in America," he said of Obama's campaign for the White House. "The question now being asked: 'Is America ready for Obama?' Well, was Virginia ready for me?"
Wilder and many other Virginians say Obama heralds the closing of an era when black politics were dominated by civil rights leaders and confrontation. Successful minority politicians of today, they say, have learned to work their way up through the system and espouse broad-based agendas.
Many of these longtime politicians attribute their success to reaching out to voters of different races. Ward worked behind the scenes to elect the first two blacks to Chesapeake's City Council in 1970. The campaign, he recalled, was almost entirely directed at consolidating black support.
It was different eight years later when Ward himself was elected to the council.
"Once I cut my hair, people realized that I was not H. Rap Brown," he said, referring to the former Black Panther, "but a qualified individual who wanted to represent the entire community."
"If a person brings a credible resume to the table and has worked in the community, he or she can advance," added Ward, who retired from the council in 2004. "One of the mistakes many make, black and white, is that they want to run for office without building any base of support."
Obama moved through the ranks, albeit quickly, from a community organizer in Chicago to an Illinois state senator to a U.S. senator. Republicans say Obama, still in his freshman Senate term, is too inexperienced to be president.
Wilder chafes at the criticism, saying there is a fine line between gaining experience and advancing when the opportunity is there.
"You make things happen - you don't wait for things to happen," he said. "How many years would he need to be in the Senate for everyone to agree that he's qualified? Fifty?"
The veteran Virginia politicians give Obama an approving nod for fashioning a broad appeal to voters with a call for change.
Miller is still in awe over Obama's appearance this year at an annual fundraising dinner for the Democratic Party of Virginia, held in a Richmond basketball arena.
"There were thousands of white people cheering a black man and bragging about how much money they had donated to his campaign," she said. "I've been in Virginia all my life, and I've never seen a phenomenon like that."
Marsh said: "It's much more important to me not that we have an African American president but someone who is needed by the country at this time. Barack Obama's message that it's time for change in America is perfect, and I would be almost as enthusiastic for him if he was white. But there's a little extra pride because he's black."
The politicians credit their generation for making today's moment. In addition to national civil rights leaders the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, they cite some Virginians.
Marsh talks about his former law partner, Oliver Hill, who played a major role in integrating Virginia schools and was one of the attorneys in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education suit.
He recalls Hill shaking his fist while dressing down the all-white General Assembly in the late 1950s when it voted to close public schools rather than comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's mandate to integrate them.
Hill died last year at 100.
Some also credit Wilder for tightly managing the state's finances through a recession in the 1990s and sending a message that blacks can govern responsibly.
For all the pride, there are also concerns about Obama.
"I'm a little worried about the rock-star image that seems to be engulfing him," Ward said. "When it comes to the fall campaign, I think Americans are going to want to hear specifics about how he'll deal with the economy."
Ron Walters, a political scientist at the University of Maryland and former adviser to Jesse Jackson, frets that a minority agenda has been lost in the shuffle of a new generation of blacks running for office with nonracial platforms. He faults Obama for not addressing racial disparities in housing foreclosures, health care and the quality of public schools.
"Everyone is afraid to discuss these issues because they don't want to bring up race," he said. "That's the quandary of black politics. If you demand accountability to the minority agenda from Barack Obama, then you might get crushed in the celebration of his election. The symbolic benefits of a Barack Obama presidency may outweigh the tangible benefits."
Wilder disagreed, saying Obama's vows to help the working class will benefit people of all races.
Obama, said Wilder and others, represents the best of a new generation of black politicians that is more optimistic and less race-conscious than its predecessors.
"The post-civil-rights leaders believe in the central goodness of people," Melvin said. "They've gone to integrated schools. They don't see barriers."
Not that Melvin or any of his Virginia colleagues is claiming that race won't play a role in determining the next president.
"Sure it will," Melvin said. "How big of a role is the question."
Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com
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that's nice
That's nice.
Lots of rhetoric, and name calling, but who will pay the bill?
The fact is about 15% of Americans vote conservative all the time, and about 10% vote liberal all the time. The rest of us vote on issues. Sometimes (like all the elections since 1992) we vote AGAINST one candidate more than we vote FOR a different one. I voted for Perot in 92. All Perot did was split the Republican ticket and bring us a man who disgraced the office, but because the economy was good (was good before WJC entered office, but the media don't mention that) we let it slide. In 96, I voted for Dole. Not because I think he'd have been such a great president, but I didn't want to vote for Mr. Clinton. Now I've had to choose between GWB and Gore/Kerry. Not much of a choice then, or in 2008, but I'm not voting for a liberal with a lot of ambitious promises that we can't pay for.
do these guys make you wanna puke or what?
do these guys make you wanna puke or what?
That is a limb!
Be careful out there!
good question
"Which McCain?" I'll go out on a limb and say it's probably John.
Which McCain?
Do you really know?
IT'S ABOUT CHARACTER NOT RACE...
BHO believes in change alright. Obama actively sought and received the stamp of approval of a Marxist third party that was in Chicago sometime between 1992-1998. The "New Party" Which was started by Jesse Jackson's former presidential staffer, Daniel Cantor, and Joel Rogers. Do we want to change the country into extreme socialism from capitalism? We fought for the past century keeping the red party from taking over America, and now it may happen without a single shot? I'm not a Republican either, and it is sad that we don't have equal representation to other parties other than the main two varsity jocks! Oh yes, I lived in Chicago during BHO uprising, or non-accomplishments.
lynnk90978 keep deluding yourself,you don't speak for most of us
How is the American public to blame for private contractors fleecing the American public in Katrina, in Iraq. How is the American public to blame for Bush and Cheney's vested interests coming before the best interest of citizens on regards to oil company. When the smoke clear and Obama is elected hopefully; the justice system will be restored to a non-politically sided entity and the law can be upheld. Why can that not happen now, because if it were Cheney could not dance around executive privilege. As it stands now sir, there are those like yourself that evidently don't look at the truth why? I thank it is the bucku bucks you have been making while the rest of the country suffers unduly at the hand of a criminal administration who fixed he first election and snowed the public the eek out victory with fear tactics.
Obama has given specifics on all of the dramatic changes that must occur for the survival of the country. Actually all I hear from McCain is more of the same. You just won't listen to specifics but watch Obama tonight.
Not that you will hear what must be done because you sir, are in denial and elf interst comes over the best for our country
Fear Is A Racist Trait
A racist fears any cultural change that dilutes their race's value. And thus today, the whites who hate other races fear the Change sweeping our country. Obama represents this change - and it is a GOOD thing. You only need look at what Racism has wrought to know what the abolition of it will bring. And soon, the racists will become a tiny minority hiding in their cabins in the woods.
The United States of America is a country of diversity - celebrate that!
Cannot believe
I cannot believe all the hype over someone who has yet to say how all his "Change" is going to be accomplished. No specifics- just telling you what you want to hear. Don;t blame Pres Bush for our problems - we should blame ourselves - A couple of years ago while everyone was making a killing on their homes - acting like there was no problem - no one was complaining. Now they are - just remember- the Democrats are in control of the House and Senate- we have a government of checks and balances. We are the ones who have allowed outsourcing of our jobs and products- no one wants to work for what they have - it's gimme, gimme- With the exception of some- we could all afford our own health care and retirement - but then we couldn't have those designer clothes etc that we deem so necessary. I want the Government to protect me from enemies Foreign and domestic and to stay out of the rest of my life as much as possible. We
Obama is 100% American
The rest is irrelevant, racist fear-mongering.
If Bush could run a 3rd term and ran against Barrack
he'd still get at least %40 to %45 of the vote based on those who vote along party lines or war and religious fears. They would downplay the horrendous job the Bush administration has done and shift all the focus on the fear of electing Barrack president. In actuality that is what the McCain camp is doing as we speak on a smaller scale!
Not sour grapes but fear
The radical right has been beating the drums of doom so loudly and steadily over the past decade that their target audience is frightened out of their wits ( as regular readers of the comments section can attest). Rapture can't come soon enough for these folks and so they back McCain in the hope that he'll hurry the end times along . . .
Obama seems different, and therefore is a threat.
Talk about sour grapes!
I don't think I've ever heard so much fear, misinformation and innuendo from the very kind of working folks who've been abused by the Republican party over the past eight years. For people who complain about government as much as many of you do, you seem curiously anxious to keep the same regime in power and reject the one candidate who proposes to restore the American Dream and America's tarnished reputation throughout the world. The Bush Administration has weakened our Constitution, indebted us to nations whose values are contrary to our own, and weakened the strength of our American social fabric by repeatedly favoring the super rich over the middle class and the poor and conducting business behind closed doors. Since Bush came into office, more people live in poverty, more people live without health insurance, more retirees are losing benefits and fewer nations are willing to be ou
Race has nothing to do with Obama's Credentials
Head of Harvard law review, graduated with honours, years of service in the inner city. (McCain, second to last in his class at the Naval Academy) Senator Obama has an intelligent voting record in the Senate, smart, progressive ideas for our future which cannot be denied. Insight and trusted in the international community and ready to re-build trust with the world community. No need for attacks for the sake of discussing what we do with the mess we have been left with by Bush/Cheney. What I find particularly ironic is that Democrats, Republicans, and Independents of all walks have hoped for someone who was not so entrenched in the political machine of Washington DC. I personally trust the man and believe he will bring a cabinet of problem solvers who will work hard to ensure that our government connect with the majority of people in this country. I can only think that those who dismiss the tru
too much time left
Unfortunately, The existing Pres might be a very deciding factor in all of this too...There's plenty of time for more emergency situations to arise, and possibly turn the tide of this election...what if there is another attack on a US building? Or if this current hurricane wpies out hundreds of thousand more people? There might be things that he puts in motion that will create a bigger panic than before...then the two candidates would have to come up with a plan of becoming a superhero...
I wonder why some of those Doomsday movies portayed a black man as President...is this some staged farce we are just watching on tell-lie-vision? Why is gas going down so fast? Just what are these puppeteers up to? Well, guess I'll sit back and watch some more TV...
I'd like a President that
I'd like a President that will restore the US to a world class nation, stop the migration of jobs and money overseas (most notably China), restore the economy, do something about the glut of illegals that are burdening our health care facilities, exploit the resources that our country harbors, and make me proud to be an American.
Unfortunately, Obama nor McCain fill the bill. We voted the Dems back into Congress in 2006, and they have done nothing except argue and bicker, raise our gas prices and destroy my retirement savings. The Republicans have done nothing at all. I guess the only thing positive I can see in the past 8 years is that we have not been attacked again.
Reaching retirment soon, I would love to take my bride to the places I visited in my navy career, but I'm very uneasy about leaving the country. Hopefully Obama can restore our prestige and standing in the world
peterclarke forget about obama for a second
what does McCain stand for? Can't be the economy as he has admitted himself that he knows little about it. As far as foreign policy he has been wrong on way more factors than he has been right and will continue a senseless war. Plus he is trigger happy and doesn't know how to be diplomatic and is disrespectful to rival countries. He has bee effective at one thing: keeping the focus off his credentials and putting them all on Barrack.
Come on people lets get real
I will say this. Black people have come very far. My parents and my parents' parents have been through the struggle, segregation, they've seen it all. So yes this is a very proud moment in the African American community and nobody can take that from us, so does race matter, YESSSSSS!!!!!!! Now thats not to say you should vote for him because he's black, thats just ignorant. Will it happen of course!!! Will people vote for McCain because he's white YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Look at were we come from, where we've been and now look at us today. Many accomplishments. Now if Obama is elected president, then I don't ever wanna hear the phrase,"the Man" ever again. Not just BO but other black leaders have shown us there is a chance, BO has just shown us exactly how far we can go!!!
Obama had it harder than Mccain
Mccain had it made, guess laying around in a hopsital in Vietnam for 5 years is supposed to make you a Hero? Obama is the true American Hero. On his Campain he had it ten times worse than any candidate ever. The media was highly racist against him but he prevailed. Dont throw around how this solidier is a hero or the police man or this firefighter is a hero, it just takes credit from the True Hero "Obama" who has done more in the Senate than any other person regardless of the number of years. Time to cut our bloated military, end their free groceries and put that money into minority programs where we can get this country back on track.