photo of Barack Obama campaigning in Pittsburgh by Chris Lareau
By Kelly Joslyn
(editor's note: Kelly Joslyn was the first Chairman of the Fall 2008 Obama Campaign in Warren. )
January 20, 2009 is more than another transition from one administration to another. This inauguration is a promise to our children...and to our inner children, to the voice of optimism in each of us that rose up from the ashes of apathy to respond to Barack Obama's message of hope with a resounding "Yes We Can." It is a promise to once again nurture and embrace our better selves, to look with compassionate vision at each other, our planet, our common future and our common dreams.
I am a teacher; for most of my career I have worked with youth commonly labeled "at risk." January 20th represents new hope for the futures of the children who have been left behind. Ironically, it was No Child Left Behind that cut funding for our at risk programs leaving the most needy children without funding for programs that worked to give them real hope and support.
Barack's vision and platform provide hope for developing more inclusive educational programs that provide real opportunities for students like mine. Barack's vision gives me hope for the future of education in this country, for a day when teachers feel proud of the work they're doing again, for a day when they feel they have the resources to provide opportunities for the most challenging of their students. January 20th is a new day that will allow me to speak to my students with pride again about my country, about the opportunities that will once again be present for those most in need, about our culture and the phenomenal effect this election and Barack's success has had on our country, on our communities and on our lives.
Along with my teaching profession, I manage a small farm in a rural community in Western New York. The work is demanding and making ends meet in this economy is difficult on a single teacher's paycheck. January 20th represents my hopes for a more sound economic future and policies that will once again support teachers, farmers and people who work daily to build the communities we live in.
January 20th represents my most quintessential hope for this country and communities like mine across this country. Though I began to campaign for Barack in New York, during the primaries I traveled to Cleveland, Ohio to canvass in support of Barack's candidacy. I visited neighborhoods very different from my own, neighborhoods hope had abandoned nearly completely.
As I passed the barred doors and the boarded up windows and called out to residents in greeting I was shocked when they slammed doors on me or rushed off in a different direction. Determined to work through my walk sheets I began to call out to people from a distance, "Hello, I'm a volunteer with Barack Obama's campaign." I was stunned and then inspired by their reactions; the same people who had rushed to get away from me stopped abruptly and swung around to greet me with a smile. People who were only moments ago suspicious and dismissive greeted me with real warmth or at least cautious curiosity. I received several admonitions to be careful in the neighborhood, to zip up my coat and to share with them the details of the volunteer movement so that they might participate themselves. Something big happened that day something that is still rippling through my life and through this country.
In contrast, or perhaps comparison, on November 4th, I left my polling place in New York and was stopped in my tracks by the sight of a black man's effigy hanging from a noose in a tree along the road. I was filled with an equal amount of revulsion, horror and sorrow and drove directly to the court house to have an officer remove the "Halloween decoration" from my neighbor's yard...my neighbor with several children...directly in view of those traveling to and from my polling location and children traveling to school on their bus route.
I was on my way to the office in Warren, Pennsylvania where I had been volunteering for months in support of Barack's campaign. I thought of the fears that defined my neighbor and of the tolerance and complacency of those who had passed that sight for days and not thought to speak out or file a complaint. I arrived at the campaign office desperately in need of the passionate and compassionate camaraderie I had found with people who were also hungry for a kinder and more hopeful future, a more just and shared prosperity. These people gave me hope again, as much as Barack's message: that we could build a better neighborhood, build a better culture, build a better dream.
I formed real friendships during this election year with people from all walks of life, people who were healed, inspired and transformed by their participation in this movement. These people renewed in me a sense of real community of real promise. January 20th is for them, but it is also for my neighbor, to heal him as well to invite him to share in our hope filled vision, to call on his better self.
January 20th is for my family, all of whom voted for Barack's opponent, for my brother and mother and sister-in-law who called to congratulate me most sincerely, and for my other brother who is still steeped in fear but willing to say he hopes that my faith in Barack and in our potential is well placed. January 20th is a celebration of the desire shared by each member of my family for a progressive future; for my mother who called after Barack's 60 Minutes interview to thank me; to say she had been wrong, "He is the right man for this time." For my brother who flew Presidential Squadron One for Reagan and Carter, who knows the machinery of Washington but who was moved enough by my work and passion to write change.gov in praise and recognition of my volunteer efforts. This year's election rocked all of us; put us more in touch with our selves and with each other, perhaps because of our differences, perhaps because of the sameness of our dreams.
On December 13th we were called to continue our work. We were tired but collectively hungry to again fuel our dreams with progressive change. We reformed our local group, as did volunteer groups across the country, and began to plan for ways in which each of us could contribute to our own communities in more significant ways. On January 10th we will host a food drive for local shelters. On January 15th we will attend our local Democratic committee meeting and solicit to fill empty seats. On January 20th we will celebrate our successes and pray for the changes to come.
January 20th represents this year’s journey and next year's road as well. It represents the best of what we are, of what Barack has come to represent, and the brightest hope for what will become of each of us--a citizen, a community, a country once again.
Kelly K. Joslyn
Recent Comments