This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 21, 2009 - It was kind of like the Summer of Love in the numb of winter.
The Summer of Love was those tumultuous months in 1967 when the youth of America converged in San Francisco and other American cities in cultural and political rebellion, a time to "make love, not war." The press equated it with drugs, sex and rock and roll, but it was also a time of change when blacks and whites came together, when peace and harmony were emerging with the age of aquarius.
It was before states were red or blue, before America knew terrorism firsthand and before "polarized" described the country.
And on Tuesday in Washington, despite the frigid temperatures, it seemed the spirit of the Summer of Love returned.
People -- black, white, Asian and others who probably wouldn't have looked twice at each other before Tuesday -- chatted as they waited in long security lines, sharing stories of where they were from and their hopes for the changes President Barack Obama's administration would bring.
"Change" was celebrated on the T-shirts hawkers pushed on every street corner, in the words of those interviewed and on the smiling faces of those who came from every corner of the country to pack the national Mall and the inaugural parade route.
Several people old enough to remember the Summer of Love said they hoped for a more fundamental change -- a change in attitude of some Americans toward other Americans.
Lisa Brown, a travel agent from Las Vegas who is white, says she was raised in a racist family in New Jersey. She remembers as a child bringing home a little girl who was black. After her playmate left, Brown's parents threw out everything the little girl had touched and Brown was forbidden to play with the child again. "I didn't understand," she said. "The little girl was my friend. I didn't see white or black. She was just a child."
Brown said she raised her two daughters in Hawaii "by myself" and taught them the color of a person's skin didn't matter.
It took Brown and her African-American husband Gil "all night and half a day" to get to Washington because of flight delays, weather and airline overbookings. Brown said she has a heart problem, and her doctor warned her not to go to Washington because the cold could be dangerous. But the chance to be part of history was too great to pass up. "If I die, at least I'll die seeing change," she said.
The Browns gave away T-shirts they had printed up before they left home. The shirts with the image of a human head, half of the face white with Negroid features, the other half brown with Caucasian features, have the words "One Race" above the head. Below is the word "Human" followed by "We are all equal in God's eyes. Jan. 20, 2009."
Bob Cramer, an African-American man, said he drove 10 hours from Columbus, Ga., "just to be a part of history." Cramer said the change he hopes Obama brings is "peace."
He added: "It's just all about respecting each other and being peaceful toward each other. We're all made of the same thing. We're from different tribes but there's nothing wrong with that. We're human beings. We only live but one time, I think, so why not live a beautiful life instead of an ugly life?"
Several people, Obama fans, cautioned that the new president will bring change but noted that one man cannot fix all of the country's ills. "The whole country needs to pray for wisdom for him and protection for him and his family," a woman named Jeanette who declined to give her last name, said. "He needs a lot of prayer to face the challenges ahead."
Prayer may lie ahead but Tuesday was for celebrating.
"Where have you ever seen 2 million people happy?" someone shouted out in a commuter train crammed with inauguration celebrants heading to Baltimore last night.
The rest of the travelers applauded.
Kathie Sutin is a freelance writer in St. Louis.