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Huron Expositor, 2009-01-28, Page 7News. The Huron Expositor • January 28, 2009 Page 7 Seaforth couple attends Obama inauguration Susan Hundertmark Dr. Ken Rodney remembers when he first came to North America in 1961 from Trinidad how a restau- rant in New York City refused to serve him because of the colour of his skin. And, his wife Pat, remembers her shock at learning that black people could not eat in restaurants in the southern U.S. when she moved to the States from Jamaica at age 14. So, when Barack Obama, the first black president ever to be voted into office in the U.S. was inaugurated last week, the Seaforth couple didn't want to miss it. "The first African-American presi- dent was something I never thought I'd see in my day," Ken says after returning home from the three-day visit to Washington D.C. Pat, who has dual citizenship in Canada and the U.S., says she wished she had booked a hotel room long before the election was held. But, despite the swell of popularity Obama enjoyed during the election campaign, she just couldn't believe he would be elected. "I never thought Americans would elect a black man all those people who were speaking in favour of Obama before the election I thought would end up voting for (Republican presidential candidate John) Mc- Cain. I was quite stunned and im- pressed with the reaction of people when Obama was elected," she says. "Once he won, we figured this was history in the making and we want- ed to be there," says Ken. The Rodneys say the spirit of hope, optimism and goodwill was every- where they went in Washington de- spite the cold temperatures and two, million people attending the'inau- guration. "People were calm and quiet and joking with the subway attendants. There was not one fight," she says. The Rodneys stayed an hour out- side the U.S. Capitol in a hotel in Maryland, taking the subway into Washington for the festivities. They travelled' in for the Sunday "We Are One" concert performed by rock stars and actors like Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Stevie Wonder and Denzel Washington. "I like Bono so the concert was su- per enjoyable," says. Ken. During the day of the inaugura- tion, they got to the subway st^tion at 6 a'.m. and couldn't believes the traffic and the line-ups. They ended up having to walk miles out of their way to cope with closed subway stops but ended up finding a spot along the Mall, a grassy expanse of parkland linking the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. "We were alongside the Jumbo- tron. We could see but obliquely. On the Jumbotron, Michelle Obama looked like she had more of a green- ish dress on but later, we saw it was lemon yellow," says Ken. Ken says he could tell right away that the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice and Obama had flubbed their lines during the inauguration. "I said to the crowd, 'He screwed. up.'And, they had to repeat them the next day," he says. Ken says he was moved by the fact that the inauguration was held the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the U.S. adding that while no one could speak as eloquently as Martin Luther King Jr., Obama was a pleasure to listen to. "This man (Obama) is some kind of orator. Nobody could touch 'The Dream' but the dream has come true," says Ken. "His (Obama's) ideas of empower- ing people, especially the youth to work for their country - this is what : he has done as much as (U.S. Presi- dent John) Kennedy did," he says. Pat says .she was amazed at the hush that came over the crowd when the Oath of Office began and at the cheering that started as the new president finished. She adds that while she saw plenty of security and U.S. soldiers running through the crowds, everyone was very well behaved. "They were looking for trouble but there was none," she says. Pat's trip to Washington brought back memories . of a school field trip there when she was a high school student living in the New York area. Travelling with her Catholic high school class, she and the one other' black student in the class were asked to sit with the nuns at a restaurant in Susan Hundertmark photo Ken and. Pat Rodney, of Seaforth, Spent three days in Washington D.C. for U.S. President Barack Obama's inauguration. The couple called the event "history In the listing" and something they didn't want to miss. Baltimore. Afterwards, she learned trip was a very different experience. that she probably wouldn't have been served if she hadn't been sitting with the nuns. "I was very up- set once I found out what was going on. I had come from the r--� Caribbean and I was staggered," she says, adding that she hadn't been back since. However, she says last week's "America has grown," she says. Announcement Get the knowledge you need to be competitive in your -fob search. 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