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Trip To Obama Inauguration Is Matter Of Pride For Many

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By LINDSAY PETERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 24, 2008

TAMPA - Carolyn Collins sat on her couch the night Barack Obama was elected president and thought about her late parents, who had drilled into her that she had the right to vote.

Then she thought about her 18-year-old grandson, who had called her with pride the day he got his voter registration card. Suddenly, Collins said, "my hands flew up and the tears began flowing."

The next day she put her name on five different lists of people seeking tickets to Obama's inauguration, set for Jan. 20. Active in Florida A&M University alumni groups and the Hillsborough County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, she's hopeful. But tickets or no tickets, she and her husband are heading to Washington to get as close as they can to the ceremony.

"We just want to be there," she said.

Across the country, Americans such as Collins are hungry to be a part of Obama's inauguration. Organizers can only guess at the numbers, but the event is expected to attract up to 5 million people.

The crowd will include people such as 97-year-old Pattie Brew of North Carolina, who voted for the first time in November, and Mark Anthony Jenkins of the New York, who runs the online Black Singles magazine. Jenkins has rented 10 buses and has sold out four for an $80 journey that includes Obama T-shirts. Jenkins hired 10 cameramen to document the experience.

Washington's NAACP bureau has been fielding questions from members as far away as California. Area colleges and universities, including the historically black Howard University, are receiving calls from out-of-town students wanting to crash in dorm rooms.

About 400 NAACP members from Florida are planning to drive at least 12 hours by car or bus, said Beverlye Colson Neal, executive director of the state chapter. Neal hopes to stand along the inaugural parade route with her four grandchildren, ages 1 to 10.

"We are going to take plenty of pictures so they will know 'I was there,' " she said.

Hillsborough NAACP president Curtis Stokes plans to fly to Washington with his wife and 10-year-old son. "It's one of those things you can't deny your kid, to see the inauguration of the first African-American president," he said.

Collins, the local NAACP's first vice president, and her husband are driving, she said. "I don't want anything to interfere. No plane. No bus delays. Nothing is going to hold us up."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story. Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.

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