Friday, November 07, 2008

Presidango Obama be bung kono


Just to give you an idea of the mood over here:
Wednesday morning, the vendors all had their radios blasting with vote counts. They would look up at me, and instead of greeting, would say simply "Obama." Some nodded at me or gave me the thumbs' up, one commented "Africa dingo be white house le saaying" (there's a son of Africa in the white house.) Today is Friday and it continues. Without lifting a finger, Obama has already caused a shift in attitude. They check me for loyalty first, "Mariama, who were you supporting?" If I say Obama, then they give me- and I don't know how anyone knows about this- the victory fist pump. I've met people who don't believe that snow is real, or vending machines, but a black man as president of toubabudu? That's news.

2 Comments:

Blogger Todd said...

America FUCK YEAH! That must be where they got it from. *Nice descriptive picture by the way.

Pretty incredible what you are describing, I was wondering if there was that subtle but apparent shift in attitudes towards Americans.

Here in Chicago we get all sorts of people announcing their happiness and wonder on the busses. All week long going to work or coming from class someone is bound to get on and yell a message to the effect of, "Good afternoon everybody! And isn't today such a nice day! Yes a black man is going to be in the white house. This time change is here."

In a country that promotes isolation from one another it's creepy and cool to see people so openly communicating.

Snow and vending machines aren't real, just like giant robots and awesomely overdone hair dos. Last I saw they were only in those Japanese cartoons like Gundam.

5:32 AM  
Blogger Sarah said...

I, too, greeted people with nothing but an "Obama" or fist pump. Universal love!
Awesome post.

6:47 PM  

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