South Florida Early Voting Lines: Cesarean Sections, Nonagenarians and Sam Cooke

MIAMI --- (As told to the correspondent by husband-and-wife Obama Volunteers Pierina and Aramis in the Coral Gables office)

The last early voting hours for Miami-Dade County were 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturday and 1:00 to 5:00 pm Sunday. "You could feel the hope in the votes," according to an Obama volunteer named Aramis. At the Model City Library, early voters were predominantly Haitian immigrants and African Americans, with a sprinkling of Hispanics. Among the polite crowd of all ages, there were many grandmothers with lots of grandchildren. From time to time, the poll workers would pull the most elderly people and bring them to the front of the line, as a courtesy. While voters waited up to three hours for the number on their admission ticket to be called, everyone displayed mutual respect, calmness and an uncommon patience.

People stood for hours in the pouring rain, to vote. The line curved along four long, downtown city blocks. According to the volunteers who experienced it, it was like something out of a movie. Human drama unfolded in the line as the rain gave way to sunny skies, and later to dusk and darkness.

One woman had just given birth through Cesarean section at a nearby hospital. Instead of going home, her husband drove his wife and their new baby directly from the hospital to the Library, just so she could vote on the last day of early voting. She knew she couldn't come on Tuesday, so she stood in that line, just so that she could vote for Barack Obama. Her tiny, newborn baby stayed in the car with her husband; this woman was still wearing slippers from her hospital stay. She could barely walk in her condition, yet she waited stoically at the Model City Library to vote.

Late in the day, a young man played music on a boom box. Slowly from the speakers came the strains of Sam Cooke's 1963 song, "A Change is Gonna Come" and the scene became an indelible memory, a dreamlike scene from a film still to be produced.

As the song blasted on speakers in the background, an old woman, well in her 90s and using a walker, slowly approached the line, dressed in her Sunday best (although it was only Saturday): a brightly-colored, flowered polyester dress with big shoulder pads, earrings and a pocketbook. She was one of the last people trying to get in line before the five o'clock cutoff time. Entering the library required ascending a long, inclined wheelchair ramp. The old woman had brought two people to accompany her, perhaps her grandchildren or her great-grandchildren. One walked on each side and one behind her, in case she fell or needed assistance. She walked slowly and methodically up the ramp to take her place in line, as the lyrics to the Sam Cooke song echoed off the concrete walls of the library courtyard.

As a sign of her advanced years and the effects of osteoporosis, her body was folded over, almost in a 90-degree angle. Yet she was focused, looking straight ahead, as though she wasn't about to take her eyes off the prize. The way she was walking, stoically, steadfast and with purpose, it was as though she was holding her head up high. Even though her body was stooped over, her spirit was in the clouds. With this vote, she would make history. Slowly, step-by-step, she walked toward the future; yes, after a long, long time, a change was coming.

Comments

[gdcb1128]

beautiful, just beautiful.­..this calms my nerves and gives me hope!

[Beninn]

If you have already voted and are near an area where voters are waiting in lines, go and stand in line for someone who can't wait in the line for hours.

If you're in Florida, form a Sarah's Squad with your friends. Wait in line for a bubbe or a zaydah!

[Charlotte A Cavatica]

I also choked up with the imagery in this piece... thanks for writing!

Another song that I think is extremely fitting (I actually emailed the Obama camp to suggest it as a victory song): "Ooh Child" by the Five Stairsteps -- such a great song. If you haven't heard it, look it up on iTunes or whatever song service you have... I believe TuPac Shakur sampled it, so it may be somewhat familiar if you know his stuff.

Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter

Some day, yeah
We'll get it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter

Some day, yeah
We'll get it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter

Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Right now, right now

[thehonestpolitician]

GO VOTE NOW! Make History! Obama is need of all the votes necessary to create a landslide. Let's make sure that our state turns blue! Bring your friends and family - make it a group thing! Wouldn't you want to say 1 year from now, 5 years from now, or even 20 years from now that you contributed to the most highlighted election in US history? Wouldn't you be proud to tell your kids/grandkids years from now that you voted for this election? It will be the most talked about election for centuries. Voting is a right and a privilege. Let's all make history together!

http://politicaladattacks.blogspot.com/

[MaryC3]

Very powerful images in this piece. I really love the picture of the old woman walking toward this prize.
Sam Cooke's version of "A Change is Gonna Come" is amazing, but Aretha's version will also give you Big Chills.
I hope that we can pull out all of the wonderful old music and the spirit behind it over the next few days.
This blog is such a beautiful statement of a moment in time, in our shared history, Pamela....­we do owe our thanks to all of the voters in Florida and everywhere for caring so much to wait in these lines so long. There must be a better way to handle voting next time; the long lines, especially for elderly people, are crazy.

[Maruku]

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I been a runnin' ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming but I know
A change gon' come oh yes it will
It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cuz I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming but I know
A change gon' come oh yes it will

I go to the movie, and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin me "don't hang around"
It's been a long, a long time coming, but i know
A change gon' come oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say "brother, help me please"
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees
There been times that I thought I wouldn't last for long
Now think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, along time coming but I know
A change gon' come, oh yes it will

[Knowitall]

Here's a link I've posted before. Sam Cooke wrote and performed this song in the midst of the civil rights era. Listen carefully you can feel his anguish:

http://noolmusic.com:80/videos_2/sam_cooke_a_change_is_gonna_come_creation.php

[Knowitall]

Trying this again:

http://noolmusic.com/videos_2/sam_cooke_a_change_is_gonna_come_creation.php

[mahogany37]

Reading this really brought tears to my eyes. I voted early and am helping others to get out the vote. I really hope and am pretty sure that a change is going to come. I'm stepping out on faith with this one. Thanks Aramis and Pierina!

[ohioan73]

When I got to the paragraph about the Sam Cooke song playing on the boom-box, I gasped and put my fist to my mouth to keep from crying ala Dr. Evil from Austin Powers. LOL! I am seriously going to cry my heart out if Obama wins tomorrow and I'm gonna play:

Revolution-The Beatles
A Change Gonna Come-Sam Cooke
and all those hippie songs about peace and love from the 60s.

Im gonna play them till the cops knock on my door...or at least until 10:00pm.

[kellygrrrl]

Thank You Florida!!!!!

[keepacoolhead]

If it looks like McCain is losing, people like my father who lives there may not be willing to stand in line... . All Obama voters be steadfast. It's our very future, our social security, health care, not to mention our energy and foreign policy, and, and, and... .

[XME]

Definitely­...ignore the polls, assume the worst, take a book and some water, and don't lines stop you from being heard!

[respectingothers]

WOW that image was pretty powerful.o­ne can just imagine the thoughts in that woman's mind and feelings in her heart. god bless america! thanks for sharing that!

[jmidnightwarrior]

Coming from the most Republican state in the nation, and standing in line only 20 minutes to vote early, I cringed each time I listened to people complain about having to wait, and that they really didn't want to vote, and that they didn't like either candidate but had to go in and punch the elephant anyway, and on and on. This story brings such a breath of fresh air to the whole process. I live in the form of the USSR right here in Utah, and even though I knew my vote wouldn't count on the electorial vote, I wanted it to count on the popular one, just to increase that.

I'm just hoping so badly that these people's vision of change coming, isn't dashed under foot by some nefarious means that has happened before. It's stories like this that make one so proud to be a part of this process. Thank you people in Florida. We are proud of you.

[Shashi0224]

Thanks to each and every person who is waiting in the long lines to correct the course of our great nation. I am looking forward to casting my vote in PA tomorrow! (Wish we had early voting!!)

Obama/Biden '08 and '12!!

VOTE!!