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Mr.President, I Hope...

On January 20th, 2009 the world watched as our Nation inaugurated the first African American President; a man who inspired the world to believe in hope and change during his campaign.  To celebrate this change Peace Action, in cooperation with the Activist Coalition of DC, set up an Inauguration Action Center in the heart of downtown Washington, DC.  Throngs of Obama supporters: centrists, progressives, and leftists alike, flooded McPherson Square with a unifying feeling of community created through hard work and dedication to a single cause. 

It was as if we had all been on the campaign trail and, in some ways, we were.

Progressives were inspired by Barack Obama's first book where he brilliantly articulated the intersections between race, injustice, war, and culture.  People of color, especially African Americans, saw this as a huge step in their long struggle for equality.  All of us felt this former community organizer was going to the White House to represent us.  In his success we saw hope for our own. 

The Inauguration Action Center capitalized on this amazing feeling by asking people to articulate their hopes for the new President.  We passed out thousands of signs which read, "I Hope for Peace" and encouraged visitors to express their own hopes for the future.  In her column on the Inauguration, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, noted how our outreach fit the tone of the day and inspired the millions watching.  

Even without this impressive nod from the mainstream media the organizers of this event knew we were doing something special.  We watched parents ask their children, "What do you want the President to do?" From the mouths of these children came the most eternal of hopes: "help my mom find a job", "stop all the wars", "fix my grandma's cancer."  Whether we were talking to 2 year-olds or their grandparents the hope was the same – we all hoped for change.  Even two weeks later you can still see Peace Action signs adorning the windows of DC homes.

Hundreds more stepped into the Action Center where they were greeted with resources, dedicated activists, and free coffee.  We wanted to give people a road toward the change they hoped for and help them get engaged on issues they may know nothing about.  At the Peace Action table we pass out literature on Afghanistan and our No Solider Left Behind campaign.  We invited our coalition partners:  the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, the Washington Peace Center, Students for a Democratic Society, and many more to join in the celebration. 

At the end of the day we connected with people from Cincinnati, Chicago, and Congo who believed the election of our new President was a good step on a long journey for justice.  We spoke to teachers and church leaders who helped Obama get elected and had a laundry list of ways they wanted him to help their communities.  We took down our tent and left exhausted, inspired, and with dozens more activists connected to Peace Action. 

Change was in the air that day – and everyone wanted to take a breath.  Now, we can capitalize on the mood for change to grow as a movement and work side-by-side with our leaders for the first time in almost a decade.  We are up to the challenges this new era brings and we hope you will join us in our struggle for enduring peace and justice in our time.