Obama Craze in Senegal
This past election day, we missed witnessing first hand the reactions of our Senegalese neigbours, but I'm pretty sure they were just as happy as they were four years ago. "A black man in the white house! Maybe Americans do believe we're all the same after all." This was the comment from Abdou, our fruit vendor, upon hearing that Barack Obama had been elected president of the United States in 2008. He articulated well what most Senegalese seemed to feel.
Since then, locals' infatuation with Obama has only grown. More than one store has opened up called "Obama," selling Western attire. I even saw a boy bearing the name of our President around the elastic band of his underwear!
Few I spoke with at the time knew much about what our president stood for. Many were suprised to hear his position on the sanctity of life. "Are you aware that Barack Obama believes that abortion should be legal?" "Oh, that's bad," taxi drivers and housewives alike would reply. "'That's wrong in the eyes of God." On the issue of gay marriage, the Senegalese were unanimous as well. "Marriage between two men? This is unthinkable!"
The bottom line, though, is that these issues (and many others) were secondary. What was monumental to Africans was that the United States, which once enslaved men and women captured off the shores of this continent, now elected one of Africa's own to its highest office. For the progress that we have made as a nation since the days of the civil rights movement, I was proud to be an American.
(Please, no political diatribes about Obama and what he's doing to our economy. This isn't an endorsement of the man, but rather an observation of the impact of his election on the global scene, or at least the remote corner we populate).
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| Barack and Michelle Obama with then President Abdoulaye Wade (I have no idea who the lady in pink is, but it's not Wade's wife) |
Since then, locals' infatuation with Obama has only grown. More than one store has opened up called "Obama," selling Western attire. I even saw a boy bearing the name of our President around the elastic band of his underwear!
Few I spoke with at the time knew much about what our president stood for. Many were suprised to hear his position on the sanctity of life. "Are you aware that Barack Obama believes that abortion should be legal?" "Oh, that's bad," taxi drivers and housewives alike would reply. "'That's wrong in the eyes of God." On the issue of gay marriage, the Senegalese were unanimous as well. "Marriage between two men? This is unthinkable!"
The bottom line, though, is that these issues (and many others) were secondary. What was monumental to Africans was that the United States, which once enslaved men and women captured off the shores of this continent, now elected one of Africa's own to its highest office. For the progress that we have made as a nation since the days of the civil rights movement, I was proud to be an American.
(Please, no political diatribes about Obama and what he's doing to our economy. This isn't an endorsement of the man, but rather an observation of the impact of his election on the global scene, or at least the remote corner we populate).
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