Students gather at Neal-Marshall Center to celebrate Obama

Barack Obama’s victory Tuesday night stood as the culmination of a struggle, not just of Obama’s campaign, but of generations of black Americans.

“The way he’s been able to galvanize people – not just black people, but whites, Hispanics, Asians – that’s something amazing,” Evelyn Hamilton, a graduate student assistant at the NMBCC, said of Obama. “It’s just powerful.”

The grand hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center was host to a cacophony of young voices, cheers and livetelevised election coverage Tuesday night as roughly 250 people gathered for the NMBCC’s election night watch party and food drive. Students sat around tables, some with laptops laid out in front of them and textbooks off to the side. Others leaned against the walls and watched as the presidential election results emerged as a victory for Obama, the clear favorite among those gathered. As state results were announced live throughout the evening, people cheered and applauded for Obama’s victories.

“Students expressed such enthusiasm throughout this campaign, and I wanted to provide a venue for them to express their joy at what the election of Barack Obama means for our country,” said Audrey McCluskey, interim director of the NMBCC and professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at IU.

The watch party was co-sponsored by various black student organizations on campus and included a food drive on behalf of the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, dinner, breakfast at 11 a.m. and a “spotlight” segment to allow students to vocalize their feelings on the election. The event was open to everyone from the on-campus and off-campus community.

“He has a perspective that very few, if any, presidents have ever had. That’s something that many people can relate to,” Hamilton said. “People who may have never worked together before have come together throughout his campaign.”

The election has garnered considerable enthusiasm among Americans in general, but it has been especially important to the black student community at IU to witness the rise and triumph of Obama, McCluskey said.

“For black students, there is particular resonance for them,” McCluskey said, explaining that many black students have grown up listening to their parents and grandparents recall times when blacks were prevented from voting, either through poll taxes, the enactment of grandfather clauses or through physical intimidation.

“For the black experience, the enthusiasm is magnified by 10,” McCluskey said. “These students have heard stories from their parents and grandparents, and this event tonight unites them in the sense that this struggle has been meaningful.”

A sense of pride pervaded the room as Obama’s victory became increasingly evident.

“It’s been historic, It’s been restorative,” said Rafik Hasan, a first-year graduate student and graduate assistant at the NMBCC. “Today I voted, and it’s the first time I’m going to be proud to call myself an American, not just an African-American, but an American.”