Inauguration was time to remember that we are one

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

-- President Barack Obama, inaugural address.

I remember a time growing up when there was an uptown and a downtown in Winston-Salem. When there was a Lincoln Movie Theater, the black-owned Safe Bus Co. (now the WSTA) and Mr. Graham's barbershop, where I got a haircut, across the railroad track on Fourth Street.

Black people had to use the steps outside the Carolina Theater (now the Stevens Center) to enter the balcony because we couldn't sit downstairs. There were also two hospitals -- City Hospital (white) and "Katie B" (black).

I remember men such as Clark Brown and Carl Russell, among others, who fought the good fight and were instrumental in my father becoming the first black deputy sheriff in Forsyth County. We have all traveled a distance since that time to witness the first African-American family in the White House. I know in my heart that a "great cloud of witnesses" is cheering this victory.

It was a cold day outside, Jan. 20, yet I knew that the feeling I had on the inside would come out at the moment of Barack Obama's inauguration as president of the United States of America. I was filled with tremendous joy, a sense of community and recognition of a divine presence at work.

"This is something," I told my wife, as I looked around, soaking it all in with childlike wonder. "Just look at all the people." In an instance, it happened. The floodgates opened and the tears came down my face the moment Obama was introduced. At that point it was real. I cried again when Aretha Franklin started singing. Indeed, there was a "sweet spirit" in that place.

It was incredible, not only to witness the historic event, but to be part of it. It was exciting to meet and talk to so many people -- to see familiar faces in a crowd of millions and also to experience the openness and embrace of people I didn't know. The sense of pride and love was palpable and seemed to travel from one end of the National Mall to the other.

"I never would have thought that I would be living to see the United States of America with an African-American president," said a 28-year-old black woman. "I even asked my parents and grandparents if they thought that they would live to see this day and their answer was ‘no'. "

A close friend "cried tears for a man long gone," his father, who struggled with being a black man in the 1960s. In Obama, he saw a man who looked like him embark upon a journey that he never expected to witness in his lifetime. It was affirming and reinforcing, he said.

"I just wish my dad could be here to share the experience," another friend said. Like so many, he fought hard in the political and educational arenas of his community for civil and equal rights.

A fraternity brother told me he could now honestly look his son in the eye and tell him he could be anything, including president of the United States. We have said the words before, but now it's real. That's why there were tears of joy for black children.

"I'm so very happy, uplifted, more optimistic in the direction of our country and world," another father shared with me. "I am motivated to be a better Christian by giving more of myself to others and thereby improve my relationships with my fellow man."

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will treasure. The images of so many people of color engaged and full of pride gave me a feeling that is difficult to express in words. I'll remember the multi-colored sea of people who worked to make the day a reality and also celebrated. Now, a significant segment of the population has a different hope. A belief that, yes, we really can.

That was the beauty of this experience. We are one. We are proud for different reasons, yet in the same outcome. And the moment brought us together to experience a new beginning. At last, there is a collective sigh of relief after overcoming challenges and barriers perceived to be insurmountable.

Frederick Douglass once said that we are one, that our cause is one, and that we must help each other, if we would succeed. Now the work begins.

■ Nigel Alston is a Dale Carnegie trainer and motivational speaker who lives in Winston-Salem. He can be reached at nalston1@triad.rr.com.