Impromptu march caps Election Day

All that could be heard in the streets of Bloomington on Tuesday night was “Yes, we did.”

The crowd of more than 100 students marched down the streets shortly after Barack Obama was elected as the first black president in U.S. history.

The crowd of screaming and teary-eyed students formed in the courtyard of the Collins Living -Learning Center. Three students – one with a drum – started a march to the IU Auditorium’s circle drive.

Freshman Ben Wahle said he and his two friends Kelsey West and Paolo Cribari started the march but never really had a plan of where it was going to go.

“Most people don’t feel like we can make a difference, but we proved that we did it tonight,” Wahle said.

Along the way, people such as senior Sarah Wilson joined the crowd of screaming Obama supporters.

Wilson said she drove to the IU Art Museum and found the group marching. Wilson and her friend started to follow the crowd that went to Dunn Meadow and down Kirkwood Avenue. The crowd grew as it continued down Kirkwood.

“It’s like completely fascinating,” Wilson said. “He is the first politician that embodies my ideals as a young American and has captured what America means.”

The march stopped in front of Pitaya clothing store.

After briefly stopping, the crowd continued up Kirkwood and turned right on Walnut Street. The crowd stopped outside Opie Taylor’s to chant “No more Bush” and “Yes, we did.” The crowd stopped for a few minutes to hear Obama’s speech before continuing to march with a life-size Obama puppet up Walnut Street toward Obama’s local headquarters.

Shareese Johnson, an IU graduate student, said the moment was much more than just a chance to walk down the streets of Bloomington.

“My grandma called me. She is so excited,” Johnson said. “I have no words, (this is) probably one of the most powerful moments in my life.”

Bloomington Police Department officer Amy Romoser said there were no arrests of the crowd as of midnight.

Romoser said BPD was already downtown because they expected some sort of crowd to show up. She said the crowd would not be broken up as long as there were no injuries.