Throughout the week leading to the elections on Tuesday, Haitians in South Florida were upbeat and ready to be part of history as they sought to help elect Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States.
So when the votes were tallied late Tuesday, it seemed as if the entire area cheered simultaneously. Cars honked their horns, people hugged each other and complete strangers became the best of friends as they tried to take in the historical nature of what had just happened.
"Obama's victory is a window open to my community. We have to know how to manage it," says Carine Auguste.
At the Fadkidj Variety Store in front of a big screen TV, in between loud music and fried pork and rice and djon djon, as Haitians watching anxiously the results, they expressed a variety of reasons for going to the polls and voting for Obama.
Obama swept to victory as the nation's first black president Tuesday night in an Electoral College landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. "Change has come," he told a huge throng of jubilant supporters.
The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states – Ohio, Florida, Iowa and more. He captured Virginia, too, the first candidate of his party in 40 years to do so.
"It is a lot of hope for my kids. One of them just entered college and finding aid was not easy," says Marie Josette Josué.
It was difficult finding a Haitian person who had voted against Obama.
They seemed motivated and excited at the prospect that someone who is black would be president on January. They hope that he is much kinder to Haiti than his predecessor. The first and foremost thing on their mind is that an Obama administration would mean granting Haitians Temporary Protective Status for, and a more open policy on immigration toward Haitians.
"Our goal is to have a complete moratorium on all deportation,” says Marleine Bastien of Fanm Ayisyèn nan, a Miami women's rights organization.
Bastien, with activist Edelyne Clermont, had toured most of the precinct to make sure voters’ rights are respected and every vote will count.
Rara Lakay, with a bamboo and other original instruments, toured the place chanting Obama se sou ou nou konte, Creole for: “Obama we count on you.”
The refrain of “God Bless America!” was shouted from the crowd every time a commercial came on.
"Now, we have hope and we can expect better health care benefits," said Auguste. At exactly 8 p.m., cheers and applause came from the crowd as the anchors announced a lead for Obama in South Carolina.
Létènèl, "Ouch !!!” was shouted every time the screen's right corner showed an advance for McCain.
"McCain takes a lead. Florida chery pote Obama sou do w. – “Florida, darling, carry Obama on your back.”
Besides immigration, Haitian Americans and Haitians here hope that Obama's administration will forgive Haiti's international debt.
"We hope to have access just like when Clinton was in power," said Bastien.
For eight years she had said that the Haitian community had tried to secure a meeting with Bush administration without success.
"Obama's victory is going to give the workers rights," said 1199-SEIU Vice President Gérard Cadet.
Three months before the election Cadet mobilized the Haitian community in Miami to garner support for Obama.
Although immigration is the issue close to all Haitians, he emphasized that with a Democratic administration workers will have access to health care and freedom to organize into union.
The march to victory
On Tuesday morning, Joseph Ménard, 55, walked out of a Miramar poll at the corner of S.W. 69 and 35th Street, to start a day of work as a patient health care provider. His children are grown but he still has to work to ensure a better retirement. In his younger days, had the notion crossed his mind that the president of the country might emerge from the black population?
"I hope Obama will be doing the right thing. Change will not come now for us but in three to four years, said Ménard.
"We need social change,” said Immacula Charles
"More often when Democrat is in power people see some relief," said Adèle Etienne, a nurse's aide. "We can see a better salary and better work benefits if Obama wins," said Etienne. Etienne added that she knows that this will happen right away but hopes that is where an Obama administration will lead.
"He is an African American. That will prove to everyone that an African American can achieve success and make it in the United States,” said Marsha Pierre, 34 a certified paralegal.
In his first speech as victor to more than 100,000 supporters at Grant Park, in his home town of Chicago, Obama catalogued the challenges ahead: "The greatest of a lifetime," he said, "two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century."
He added, "There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face."
McCain called his former rival to concede defeat – and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House. "The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly," McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.
President Bush added his congratulations from the White House, where his tenure runs out on Jan. 20. "May God bless whoever wins tonight," he had told dinner guests earlier.
