An Inauguration for the “New” America – A Rainbow of One Million Plus People Descend on Washington DC to Celebrate the Second Swearing in of the 44th President

by
dominique DiPrima

January 19th, 2013 was my very first time witnessing the inauguration of a U.S. President live and in person. I was there to represent the radio station I work for, KJLH-FM and the listeners I serve (Black Los Angeles, Black America, Progressive America.) But I was also there as a citizen and a patriot. It was indeed an historic day and I was thrilled to be a witness to history in the making.

I’m not one for crowds. I’m that girl who will watch the football game on TV in the privacy of my home before I go to the game. I’d rather enjoy instant replay and trips to the fridge in my warm and cozy house than wade through crowds of potentially drunken people lacking basic motor skills. And I hate to be cold. I’m a true California girl. If the temps drop below 50, I’m liable to declare a “snow day,” and stay in. The inauguration has all the ingredients of your basic nightmare – cold weather, crowds, bad food and traffic. So you know I had to be pretty motivated to fly to Washington DC in January and volunteer to stand outside all day!

And I’m glad I did. Don’t get me wrong, it was packed and cold and hectic. But I am so glad I got to see and feel it all for myself . And once again I learned the lesson that the mainstream media spin is just that, spin, conjecture and sometimes a herd-of-sheep journalism mentality, where everyone simply repeats the same thing everybody is saying because it’s what everybody is saying. I experienced that at the DNC and the point was brought home again on Inauguration Day.

Pundits were all predicting 800,000 attendees or fewer. They kept repeating that the mood would be somber and the crowd diminished compared with 2009. And if you’ve been keeping an eye on the news coverage from the primaries through the swearing in, you’d believe not one White male supported the President, multi-cultural America, or even the 99%.

The crowds in DC told a different story. I saw people from all over the country, every age bracket, every ethnicity. I saw plenty of young White men waving flags, decked out in Obama gear. I saw lots of young people, Asians, Latinos elderly and “other.” I was not able to go in 2009, so I can’t compare. But I know that the mood I witnessed this past week was not somber, but determined, not sad but grounded, not tentative but patriotic and proud of the choices we made as a nation this election day. There was lots of conversation about saving our democracy, and how we, the people were making sure that this country is not just a playground for the very rich, but a land where there is a place for everyone at the table.

Now the “experts” say one million or more attended the inauguration. And still they dwell on the fact that the crowd was smaller, they point out that in 2009 there were 1.8 million Americans on the national mall. They don’t mention that 1.8 million was the all-time record for inaugural attendance. The omit the fact that George W. Bushes biggest inaugural crowd was 400,000 people in 2005. They don’t even highlight the fact that the very popular Bill Clinton topped out his inaugural crowd at one million.

What I saw on the national mall, on the metro, and on the streets, was the “new” America. And it was Black, it was Brown, it was Asian, it was gay…It was young, it was white, it was elderly it was female. It was my America, my inclusive, eclectic, rainbow of a nation. It was the coalition that won this election for President Barack Obama and shocked Republicans into the reality that America is no longer mostly white. But it was no shock to those of us who live it. It was not new to us. Just as Columbus “discovered” an already populated America in 1492…Pundits and patriarchs are “discovering” an already thriving “new”America in 2013….Let us not be tricked by beads, baubles and shiny lights…Let us define ourselves, articulate our own experience and celebrate our emergence. On the happy occasion of the second inauguration of our 44th President let us remember it is truly all about us…We, the People…