The Evening of Election Day, 13 hours later in Changsha, China

Some Changsha fun on 堕落街 (Degenerate Street)

I’m sitting in the Fifth Tone here in Changsha, which is a cool coffee shop that is uncharacteristic for China and reminiscent of something you’d find in the States, good coffee and good baked goods.  The Fifth Tone’s wireless connection has made this post possible.

The wonders of the International Date Line mean that while most Americans were watching the election results on their televisions late into Tuesday night, I was eating tofu and steamed fish, among many other Hunanese delights while watching the election results on CCTV, China’s state-run television network during lunch on Wednesday afternoon. This coverage was of course supported by Blackberry updates from the New York Times and CNN, but it was surreal to be in the middle of China at this historic moment. All 22 of the fellows from the Yale-China Teaching Fellowship have gathered in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province for a week-long conference to talk about our teaching thus far and to see each other for the first time since Hong Kong this August. It was great to be with so many other Americans who were as eager as I was for the results, but it was frustrating to not be able to sit at my computer and hit F5 for the latest electoral count. But after lunch, we were able to then head back to our hotel rooms and watch both McCain and Obama’s speeches on YouTube. A small crowd had gathered around my computer as we watched McCain’s gracious concession speech (unfortunately the boos and hisses from the crowd were not as gracious) and Obama’s rousing and powerful victory speech, definitely one this will be remembered for a long time. Here I was in Changsha, downloading YouTube clips to be a part of this historic moment in American history. Even CCTV was uncharacteristically joyful at the prospect of a President Obama, which is a signal that almost instantaneously, America’s place in the world as a land of endless opportunity and hope was partially restored by this momentous occurrence. Even in the days leading up to the election, I either overheard Chinese people talking or was told directly how significant an Obama win would be for America and how it would create a long-lost respect for the country that has given the world so many other positive examples to learn from in its long history (and some not-so-positive ones). Congratulations to President-elect Obama and here’s the possibility of a renewed hope in America. It also means that I can return home proud of the choice my fellow citizens and I have made.

However, there is one thing that makes it difficult to be as overjoyed today as I wanted to be. Proposition 8, a move to add a constitutional amendment to the California constitution that would ban gay marriage, looks like it will be supported by a majority of the voters in that state. It is hard to feel good about a move that enshrines discrimination and animus in a state constitution. Some voters who supported Obama’s message of hope and change apparently felt that allowing gay people the right to get married is too much change, which just leaves me upset and disappointed when I want to be so happy that we have someone like Obama as our next president. It makes me wonder why other groups of people who may have been discriminated against and who understand the importance of fighting for civil rights and equality and who understand the shame and pain of being discriminated against, could vote overwhelmingly for this proposition. The struggle for equality is one that we all fight in the face of discrimination, regardless of whether the histories are shared or not. If we are being treated differently and negatively for something that is an intrinsic part of who we are, then we should all be fighting the same battle. What we should not be is territorial about our struggles and the civil rights movement, trying to claim it for our own. Fighting hatred and discrimination are not to be regarded as the fight of just one group, but of all groups who are the targets of such nasty and hateful beliefs. Proposition 8 and its possible passage by the people of California leave me a little less proud to be an American and mar this epic moment in our country’s history where we have been able to surmount our racial prejudices to elect the country’s first African-American president, but at the same time we can still vote to write prejudice into our laws.

CCTV calls the election for Obama