Definition of change

Commentary by Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig

It’s been four years for some. For others, eight.
   For Reginald Bingham it’s been a lifetime. Forty-eight years — to be exact — that the Oakland resident has waited to vote.
    More importantly, he’s waited for someone, he says, that brought something new to the table.
   “I’ve been waiting for America to reflect the diversity that it is built on.”
    He says this as we walk through downtown Oakland from the Obama campaign office, where he has volunteered for the past two months, to his voting precinct at the AC Transit building on Franklin Street. It was there he cast his ballot in his first general and presidential election ever; he didn’t even vote in the primary.
    “Exciting,” is how Bingham describes his experience that for the most part, consisted of choices he made “off the cuff.” That is except for one.
    His choice for president of the United States? Barack Obama.
    Bingham is a Republican. Yes … you heard me right. The Indiana native, who refers to himself as “a descendent of the slave trade” instead of African American or black, is a registered member of the red party.
    Bingham says when he was young, he thought it would be him running for the position of commander-in-chief. But like so many of us, life got in the way and he used his activism and passion for fairness and equality in other ways.
    And he waited … waited for the right person to come along. It didn’t matter if they were Republican or Democrat. They only needed to mirror our country — physically, intellectually and emotionally.
    The single father of five children says he wants someone leading our nation that reflects our basic values in life. Someone, like Obama, who offers a diverse, unique, intelligent, passionate, nurturing view on this country and its current state.
    I think these characteristics are what have drawn so many to the junior senator from Illinois. Why so many people see themselves in him. I think they are also what inspired me to follow the elections more so this year than in those past.
    Obama — more specifically, this election — inspired the high school students who stood at Oakland’s City Center waving American flags and signs reminding people to vote. It inspired one guy hanging out at the corner of Broadway and 13th Street to shout at everyone who walked by, reminding them that today was the day to make their voice heard. I never got a chance to ask him if he voted himself. But at least he was making sure others did.
    It inspired Kenny Chan, 17, a student at Skyline High School, to volunteer at Bingham’s precinct. Kenny said he is looking forward to being old enough to vote himself. It also inspired a friend who, although she will “probably vote for McCain, though I don’t support him intensely at all,” is looking forward to seeing what change Obama will bring forth.
    Over the past six months I’ve seen people of all races, ethnicities, most religions, sexual orientations and more coming together like I haven’t seen since Sept. 11, 2001. This inspiration, this shift in thinking, is what we have needed in this country for so long.
    If that’s not change, I don’t know what is.

   Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig is an award-winning journalist who resides in Oakland. If you have an individual, organization, issue or other topic that may be of interest to the Globe’s readers, contact her at talk2mfc@yahoo.com.
   Visit her blog at www.stpminute.blogspot.com.