Here's a memory from Keith Kinch, our Deputy Field Director at OFA New York
On Nov. 4th 2008 I found myself in an unfamiliar environment. I woke up at 4am in the morning in a house with a family I met six weeks prior in Manayunk Pennsylvania preparing to travel to polling stations in Delaware County. Starting the morning this way is something I did not anticipate when I joined a group of organizers in New York to start an organization called Brooklyn for Barack in February 2007. From collecting signatures to help Barack Obama get on the ballot in New York to working as a staff member in Pennsylvania, all the hard work would finally payoff at 11pm. The moments leading up to that time are something I will never forget. I was driving in a car in downtown Philly looking side to side seeing hundreds of people on the sidewalks. They were listening to the radio and watching big screen TVs awaiting the results. Cars alongside us and behind us were honking and screaming Obama’s name while calling out which states we had won. Then the official announcement came and the celebration began. People were hugging total strangers, elderly women crying throwing their purses in the air, and young people dancing in the middle of the street. The entire city had become one giant party and you were invited whether you liked it or not. At that point driving another inch was not an option with hundreds of thousands of people in the streets, so we got out of the car and joined in. A year later as we come together to celebrate and remember moments like this in the past we also must look forward to the future. The election of President Obama was just the beginning. We must use the same energy and commitment that got him elected to ensure the change we want to see occurs. Now is the time to deliver through our actions and not just say “Yes We Can” or “Yes We Did” but “Yes We Will”. That is why I urge Obama supporters from far and wide to remember what is possible when we all work together, and join, yet again, to continue the fight.
