Juan Williams Tears Up: "This Is America At Its Grandest" (VIDEO)

A visibly moved Juan Williams reacted to the news that Barack Obama was elected President of the United States shortly after the race was called on Fox News Tuesday. Williams called it "stunning," noting that African Americans were barely able to vote until just 43 years ago, and saying, "I don't care how you feel about him politically, on some level you have to say this is America at its grandest."

His full comments:

It's a stunning sight. It's incomprehensible. Even a year ago, I wouldn't have thought this was possible. That an African American man could be elected President of the United States. When I think of it from a historical point of view, and you go back and think of people, that fact that black people didn't have the right to vote in this country. There were only black men until 1870. In 1870, black men got the right to vote and of course it didn't mean much until going forward until 1965 and the Voting Rights Act. And at that point, Linden Johnson said the Democrat Party lost the South forever and there was no possibility really of full enfranchisement that said black people could somehow be the leader of the United States of America. This is truly an incredible moment of American history. I can't think of another country in the world where you could have a significant minority that was once so maligned and so oppressed finally have one of its sons rise to this level. This is ah... I don't care how you feel about him politically, on some level you have to say this is America at its grandest, the potential, the possibility, and what it says for our children. Black and white, the image of Barack Obama and those little girls in the Rose Garden in these years to come. I think it's just stunning.

Read more Election Reaction here.

Read more about Election 2008 coverage here.

Comments

[billblow3]

Has it ever dawn on anyone that America isn't has racist has the news, the media and some who want you to believe. For years we have seen or heard that America is full of racist, America will never elect a black person, maybe so but let me say this, those old ideals and those racist people or dying out now, slowly and surely. I must also say, has anyone ever ask the people who are not in charge with power, the real America people. Those with money and power they make a living on keeping the racist separated. So I must say to all the real People out here who chose to let their votes speak for them this election season, "" WELL DONE """ people !!!!!!! OBAMA/BIDEN "08 "

[f4skyhawk]

interesting at how pompous we can get sometimes and ascribe moivationst. when I saw this I did not attribute anything but the moment to it - no nefarious reason why he should or should not cry - emotions have a way of sneaking up on you

[Glowcy]

.
At the end of the primary season, I decided that I no longer identify as African American.

Like Whoppi said, I don't have to carry around my packed bag any longer. I am home.

I am American.

.

[Keatingfive]

That Bamma would have cried if McCain won. lol

[CRA1]

Obama himself did not run as a black man nor a white man. He ran as an American who happens to be both. That's what attracted voters to him and why he will be a great leader!

[YR]

True in a sense, but he does identify as an African American because while living in America before he was famous that's how he was perceived and the black experience shaped his life. Positively identifying as black does not mean he denies or disrespects his white ancestry. And through the slave experience here in the US most blacks have white ancestry. And many whites have black ancestry because many white looking blacks secretly passed into the "white" race over the years in order to gain opportunity.

[mari2JJ]

Actually, the Republicans made certain that their folks knew that Obama was black, exotic, unreliable and not deserving to be President. With the backdrop of the lousy McCain campaign, ie VP choice, slow fund-raising, Palin drag on the ticket, and McCain's long history as a maverick that he actually ran on - all these facts foreshadowed this BIG Republican ticket loss. McCain may try to blame Palin, but that will only show how inept McCain was in picking her to run as VP. It was McCain's lack of vetting and his happenstance methods that lost this election. Palin ineptness was a good fit to be a McCain pal. They both demonstrated so graphically that they were totally incompetent.

[Larkinvos]

Who transcribed Williams' remarks?
"LINDEN Johnson???"

[RobHughey]

oops...

:)

[Retrofuturistic]

Now we CAN be a global community, where we never reject good people because of their race. Where we can take the best from ALL cultures and reject the bad. Where we don't use stupid qualifiers like religion or sexual orientation or race or gender to close ourselves off from good people we can learn from. Where the world can see that we still adhere to the principles expressed in our pre-Bush Constitution.

I think the internet was responsible for the human evolution most of us are now participating in. When you speak on the internet, it is only your words that are heard. You are religion, race, and gender neutral. Only your words and your knowledge and your wisdom have power.

[DofG]

This is why we must protect the Internet. Because ignorance is not only a natural state Man's evolving condition, but throughout the history of civilization, it has been used by the "few" to enslave the "many"!


"Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[mari2JJ]

What a wonderful way of putting it. Thanks!!!

[igorz]

Juan Williams on Fox is equivalent to a deer at an NRA convention … except that the deer would likely have the good sense to know that they were shooting at him. No sympathy, no respect for this black Joe Lieberman.

[guajiro]

I second that. Except Juan knows they're shooting at him. And I think he has, as some minds tend to do under pressure, identified himself with his persecutors, the hard-right media on Faux. He'd been allright until about a year ago when out of the blue he started reversing course and espousing positions he'd been against all his life. As the only representative of the liberal position on Faux I can understand his isolation. BUT, in his down time he could have traveled to Chicago, or any other place where Liberal thought is discussed and openly accepted, and gathered his strength there. I will withhold judgement on Juan for another year and see how his views are in light of the advancement to us, to him, to the world, that this election has made.

[Sabreen60]

Ju@n Williams - You've got to be kidding!!! You get a paycheck and that's all you get - no respect.

[JFKing2008]

I don't believe the Juan Williams and Jesse Jacksons of the world get to cry. I'm African-American and I was not moved by their tears. Yes, Jesse Jackson was influential during the civil rights movement, but he did not want BO to be President. So, please do me a favor and save the crocodile tears.

[RGray]

Agreed. We knew from the beginning that both the man and the message were special. We owe President Elect Barack Obama a debt of gratitude for his self-sacrifice and his promise to serve this country with distinction, honor and excellence.

[hip dibler]

try to be a little more understanding. forgiveness is a wonderful thing.

[changeishere08]

You tell those on Fox to be more forgiving. i'm so sick and tired of being told to "forgive and be understanding". Have you not been paying attention during this election cycle? Who has been the most nasty towards Obama? Save your plea for those who did the most dirt. In the meantime, Juck Fuan.

[StephCaster]

Especially if you are black, shame on you for your disrespect of Jesse Jackson. I can't think of ANYONE with more of a right to be moved by the event of our first African-American president. As a young man, he was a civil rights leader in the 1960s. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered right in front of him.

A (white) college student in Minnesota when he ran for President in 1984, Jackson was the first person I ever voted for. His speech (along with Mario Coumo's) at the 84 Convention was one of the foundational moments of my political life. He championed the plight of the family farm, and filled arenas with cheering people in 99% white small midwestern towns. America was suffering from the cancer of the Reagan revolution then, and that along with lingering racism meant history was not on his side. But he was a true champion for justice -- for all people.

He also founded organizations to help people work together to bring change about. His trailblazing and the tireless, relently work for those organizations over the last quarter century are part of what made Obama's victory possible.

He has raised a son, who, following in his footsteps has devoted himself to public service. Jackson's legacy is not just somewhere in the distant past, it is alive today. God bless Jesse Jackson: I am so glad this moment happened in his lifetime.

[rafael44]

how they do you explain the N word comment by Mr Jesse several months ago?

[Keatingfive]

Hold on now missy, you've got to admit he's been doing some wierd stuff lately. Us black folk still respect his past but getting rich through a non-profit ain't one of em. That old baby didn't help either. lol

[JFKing2008]

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but when Jesse Jackson says that Obama's been "talking down" to black people and he wants to cut his nuts off, my preception of him changes. In the many interviews and speeches BO has done in the past two years, I have NEVER heard him talk down to ANYONE! I'm not even sure what Jesse Jackson meant by his statement. He does a great disservice to the black community if he wants to pretend Obama has not worked much of his career in trying to empower black people.

I don't regret what I said...I am not moved by Jesse Jackson's show of emotions. However, I do understand your position...I feel the same way about Barack Obama.

[mmgbizgirl]

Feel it.

Here is my souvenir tribute to the President Elect and family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5QigRkg9G8

Enjoy!

[RobHughey]

I'm really proud that you put together a vid and all....

...but when you're putting the same post in every single comment section for every story... you're spamming it. And that's kinda' REALLY annoying...

[LarBear]

I remember my parents did not believe it was possible for mankind to go to the Moon... We were all glued to the TV watching their Reality overturned... My buddy called it a Brief bout with Reality....

Please do NOT begrudge, or lessen People having their Reality challenged... Sometimes that leads to a different World View and Beliefs... Good on you, Juan Williams, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and millions of others, INCLUDING PEOPLE WORLDWIDE.... Get it..... WORLDWIDE.... That little spark of Hope, of possibility... That OMG....

That child that says... Maybe I can too....

[cheeriogirl]

Perhaps Barack is already beginning to bring us together , as we appreciate the historical significance of his election to the office of the Presidency.

We need to come together in order to go forward as a nation. It seems to me that history is being used as a catalyst.

YES WE CAN

[SoniaM]

I am thrilled about the election. But so many commentators are saying "Never beore in the history of the world...". Ummm, does no one remember when Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa, a country where apartheid was prevelant until 1990? Even Oprah got it wrong, and she's a huge Mandela fan!

[justaskinman]

Ummm, yeah, South Africa is in AFRICA. You know, where people with dark skin and very curly hair are indigenous? Nelson Mandela being elected President in SA was more remarkable for the fact that he'd been a political prisoner just before being elected.

America was the nation built on ruthless colonialism, whose wealth was built by Black slaves in chains, whose 'masters' were prevented by law from teaching them to read and right. America is also the country that showed up for lynchings with picnic baskets and their kids.

Obama's victory is unprecedented in human history, sister. I'm an American whose ancestors came from England in the 1600s, owned slaves in Kentucky, and fought on both sides of the Civil War. I have never been so proud to be an American, and I don't think I'll ever forget or let this feeling fade.

[justaskinman]

I am so embarrassed that I misspelled 'write' below. Hopefully Obama will invest in educating white men with JD's.

[ilovemycat]

Amazing how all of the sudden some of those on Fox News are pretending to be impressed with an Obama presidency when for the past 2 years they've been bashing him to no end. Pathetic!

[eddiebly]

EXACTLY...There is no more room at the Obama Inn.

[enlighteninglad]

Hannity hasn't really changed. He's still pushing the phony Khalidi association. I listened to him for 15 minutes ( a record for me) and had to turn him off. How anyone can pay that dipsh*t that much money to spew his filth I'll never understand.

[DHC]

I remember when Juan Williams used to host a call in show on NPR. He was very liberal sounding then. I've seen a lot of tears cried since Obama's election but Juan's tears do not move me. He is a spineless lapdog, a gutless gas bag, a hypocrite, and a contriver.

[2351]

ditto!!!!!

[ptgkc]

No, not Uncle Juan...

[heal57]

yeah, but do you like him?

[RealityBaseCamp]

Something bothered me about him, even on NPR. Since then, he's been more obviously representing the right while declaring himself a liberal. I'm a militant middle-of-roader, and he's to the right of me. That would be OK if he were honest about it, and if I didn't keep catching him using dishonest arguments. Anyway, I'm not going to deny the guy his tears, because even he had to realize the significance of this moment. It would, however, be nice if he and a lot of other African American Cons would realize the conservative movement would NEVER have produced it.