'This is our touching of the dream'

Jerry Holt, Star Tribune

Rosemarie Kelly, center, Jasmine Stringer and Ora Hokes celebrated with family and friends in Bloomington. “This is truly an amazing moment, not just for black people but for the country,” Stringer said.

By ROHAN PRESTON, Star Tribune

Last update: August 29, 2008 - 12:09 AM

"Go ahead now! Call it out! Aaa-men!" With claps and nods, with wet eyes, raised hands and loud prayers, three generations of a prominent Minnesota black family and their friends came together Thursday night to watch and to celebrate as Barack Obama accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party.

"I never thought I would live to see this," said family matriarch Phebe Givens, 86. "I only wished that my mother, who was born in Minneapolis, had lived to witness it. In those days, we were all different, all the races, and we couldn't imagine that we would come together like this.

"It's really, really special."

The welter of emotions was palpable in the Bloomington home of Givens' daughter, Roxanne, a 50-something entrepreneur and businesswoman. She was busy feeding her family and friends barbecue, chocolate cake and cosmos. She lit sparklers and unity candles in a home full of African sculpture, Picasso prints and a life-size cutout of Obama.

Roxanne Givens' two daughters, Brittany, 23, and Rachael, 15, shared the moment as well. "It's exciting and monumental," said Brittany. "It's an honor to witness something so historical. And what I love about Barack is his class, his quiet courage, how he speaks on the issues but doesn't attack the character of his opponents."

After he watched the speech, retired Macalester College history professor and civil rights activist Mahmoud El Kati smiled, saying that Obama's moment was quintessentially American.

"I do believe that if you can imagine it, it is possible, even as improbable as it has seemed, given how visceral the feelings are around race," he said. "You have to be cautiously optimistic."

Some of those attending the viewing party dubbed Aug. 28 "Dream Day" because Obama accepted the mantle of his party on the 45th anniversary of the classic speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"This is our 'I Have a Dream' moment," said family friend Robin Hickman, a media producer and the product of an activist Twin Cities family. "This is our touching of the dream."

It was difficult to tell that Obama was not in Bloomington. The viewing party clapped for many of his lines, from "protecting pensions ahead of CEO bonuses" and "equal pay for equal day's work," to "energy independence in 10 years."

The loudest cheer, and some laughter, came when Obama said: "John McCain likes to say that he will follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives!"

"Bring it!" said marketing and operations officer Wilt Hodges, 25. "Now you're talking."

"We will all remember where we were, who we were with," said Roxanne Givens as she lit more sparklers.

Still, for all the pride, joy and giddiness, for all the long minutes that friends Rosemarie Kelly and Ora Hokes quietly hugged each other after the speech even as their friends celebrated around them, for all the yells of "Beautiful!" and "Yeah!" that went up when Obama was joined onstage by his family, there were also concerns.

"We have lost so many leaders, and I just trust that he will be safe," said Phebe Givens. "We can't afford to lose him."

Atlanta native Jasmine Stringer, 28, a sales executive, said she had just gotten caught up in the emotions of the moment. "I wasn't really in too deep until tonight," she said. "This is truly an amazing moment, not just for black people but for the country. We're moving from under the bugaboos that they said would always keep us down. It's such a beautiful thing."

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390

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