Tacoma family rejoices, reflects after historic election

Astrik Price, 22, helps her cousin Jaquan Price, 7, with his homework. Photo by Nate Hulings.

Astrik Price, 22, spent election night anxiously watching television at her Tacoma home while her BlackBerry buzzed with friends updating her on all the latest polling numbers.

Her father, Lee “Mitch” Mitchell, was in a different room but shared his daughter’s butterflies; and his wife, Ethel Price Mitchell, soon returned from work with her two nephews and niece.

Then they waited.

As states began to fill in red and blue, cautious optimism filled the Price-Mitchell residence.

Jaquan, Jalondre and Marisha, ages 7, 5 and 4 respectively, ran to Astrik every time she let out a scream of anger or excitement.

“How many points does he need now?” Astrik recalls Jaquan asking.

Then it happened.

They heard the words: Barack Obama will be your next President of the United States of America.

And like countless other black families across the country, the Price-Mitchells shed tears centuries in the making.

The Price-Mitchell family is part of the black minority that makes up 13 percent of the United States population. That number is nearly identical in the Tacoma area, where the family has lived for the past 17 years. Blacks delivered overwhelmingly for President-elect Obama, with 95 percent of their vote.

Amongst the screams and hugs, each member of the Price-Mitchell family began to realize that being black in America would never have the same meaning.

It’s the issues

Being black was never a campaign issue for Obama, and Mitch respected that about him. When Obama originally emerged as a presidential candidate, Mitch, 52, asked the same questions a 52-year-old white man would ask: Who was this guy? What does he stand for? What are his values?

Lee “Mitch” Mitchell

Mitch said Obama’s promise of reform, not merely the historical implications of a minority president was what sold him to the young senator from Illinois.

“If a white person would have run on the same issues, I think they would have been elected,” Mitch said. “It wasn’t necessarily his goal to be the first black president.”

The belief a candidate must run on of issues first crossed generational lines in the Price-Mitchell household. His daughter Astrik said Obama’s stance on education was what led to her support.

And while no one in the family neglects the fact that Obama is biracial—they believed he was the best person for the job and that is all that matters.

Racism takes new form

The Price-Mitchell family also sees the election of Obama as a huge step in the right direction for race relations.

Steps that began in an enslaved South, marched through the streets of Birmingham, and now stand at the steps of the White House.

Mitch remembers when being black meant subservience to whites. But now he says Obama’s election provides motivation to blacks and all other races to claim their stake in politics and power.

“We have a new generation with fresh ideas and fresh concepts,” Mitch said. The “old guard” of powerful, white men is waning, he added.

But those days of the “old guard” and shattered dreams still remain fresh in Mitch’s mind.

His generation saw the assassination of civil right’s leader and peace advocate, Martin Luther King, Jr. The death dashed the hope of progress and equality and Mitch soon found himself resigned to the fact he may never see a black president.

However, King’s dream was fulfilled through Obama’s election, Mitch said. The content of one’s character finally trumped skin color.

So as the former slave state of Virginia turned blue on Election Day, all Mitch could think about was how far this country had come.

“It was amazing to see the most racist people in the country decide to do something not because of the candidate’s skin,” Mitch said.

Ethel Price Mitchell

Racist whites were not the only demographic that kept previous generations from progressing beyond skin color, Ethel said. Personally, the 55-year-old’s daughter, Astrik, was the key to unlocking her own hesitations about other races.

“I came out of it along time ago once Astrik had friends of all races, color, creeds,” Ethel said. “That brought me out of racism a long time ago. I don’t see color, I just see people.”

Seeing her daughter’s generation place less importance on race is a “breath of fresh air,” she added.

However, fresh air is occasionally polluted.

Multiple death threats toward Obama during his campaign for presidency instilled old feelings of fear and uncertainty in the black community.

“People that don’t like blacks are going to be just as open about their bigotry,” Mitch said.

Bigotry that gestured a gun-shape hand toward Astrik’s Obama t-shirt.

Bigotry that Mitch says “pretends to be your friend but would not even let you clean out their doghouse.”

Bigotry that keeps the black community on edge despite the historic success of this election.

Hope for the new generation

The age group that might benefit most from Obama’s election was too young to vote.

Ethel Price (far right) helps her nephew Jalondre Price, 5, with his homework as his sister Marisha Price, 4, helps him spell his name. The family spent the night of the election watching television and celebrating Barack Obama’s victory. Photo by Nate Hulings

Astrik’s three cousins, ranging from 4 to 7 years old, may not know much more than the President-elect’s name but being black in America will take on a whole new meaning for their generation, Astrik said.

“Right now they can only see that this is a black man that’s doing something big,” Astrik said.

That something big is partly becoming their generation’s ethnic role model. Jaquan, Jalondre and Marisha may not remember Election Day down the road but they will forever benefit from growing up with a minority president, Astrik noted.

She believes this particularly rings true for the male black population.

Current role models for the young black male demographic are generally rappers, Astrik admits.

Many young blacks relate to the rapper narrative of living in poverty and making it big through speaking their mind. Now those same blacks see a biracial president that shares their story of struggle and overcoming the odds.

That is the story that Astrik’s father thought died with King and an ideal her mother thought improbable.

“We can tell our children, ‘Look, you can be president,” Astrik said. “Before how could that possibly be? But now, they will actually believe it.”