A Great Night In Harlem

Maxie Jones — A Great Night In Harlem

My father, Maxie Jones Sr., came to Harlem in the 1950s from Prentice, Mississippi. And I remember one time when he took me down there for a visit, we were driving down the main street in Prentice. And up ahead, we saw at the traffic light, the Ku Klux Klan were handing out flyers to the drivers. They were handing the flyers only to the white drivers. They were in full KKK garb. They had the hoods, the gowns, everything. As we drew closer to them, the better you could see their eyes rolling around in those little holes in the hoods. 

I had only seen them on TV prior to that. It’s a lot different in person. They gave a flyer to the driver in front of us and said, ​“Here you go, ma’am. White power.” Then they looked at us and I was scared, because I was wondering what they were going to say to us. But they didn’t say anything. They just walked right past, went to the car behind us and said, ​“Here you go, sir. White power.” As we drove off, I asked my father, ​“Dad, how could they do that in broad daylight, just like that, right in front of us?” My father said, ​“Maxie, just sit still and keep quiet.” I felt that he should be angry, like I was angry. But for him, it was just normal. 

My father never talked about politics to me, and I don’t even know if he ever voted. The only thing he ever said to me about politics was, ​“Sssshit.” [audience laughter] Because that’s how he started off everything. [audience laughter] He said, ” Sssshit. It don’t matter who the president is, they ain’t going to do nothing for us, no way.” I understood why he felt that way, because he grew up in a world where in politics, black folks just didn’t matter. 

When I was a kid, my mother used to tell me, ​“Maxie, you could be anything you want to be.” She said, ​“Shoot, you could be the president of the United States if you want to.” And I never really believed it. I thought that what she was really saying was, ​“You could try to be the president and you’ll land somewhere.” When I was about 10 years old, I remember when Nixon beat McGovern in the presidential election by what seemed like just a few votes, and the next day, my social studies teacher came in and she said, ​“I can’t believe he won. I just can’t believe it. If more people had come out to vote, he wouldn’t have won that election.” And it was from her that I learned that people don’t show up to vote just to put someone into office. You show up to vote also to keep somebody out. The year I turned 18 just happened to be an election year, and I voted that year because I was excited, even though my candidate didn’t win. And ever since then, I’ve never missed an opportunity. 

In 2007, my father passed away. And right about that time, I started hearing about this senator from Illinois named Barack Obama, who threw his hat in the ring for the presidency. Now, my first thought was, that was one of those situations where I know I’m not going to win, but at least we could get people used to the idea of a black man being president. Now, I know what my father would say. He would go, ​“Ssshit, [audience chuckles] you ain’t going to see no black president in your lifetime.” And based on that, I thought, ain’t no way this guy’s going to win. 

On election day 2008, I had to be to work at 8 o’clock that morning. I heard the polls opened up at 6 o’clock, so I got up early, so I could be the first one down there. It was at Gladys Hampton Houses right there on St. Nicholas Avenue. So, I got up, and I went there, and I was shocked to find the place was crowded already. People had been lined up from early to vote. It’s not like any other election where you just standing in line waiting to vote. People were celebrating, and everybody was talking like they knew each other. One guy had his kids with him. He was like, ​“I brought my kids for this historic moment.” There was this other lady who said, ​“This is one time I made sure to get out to vote.” 

But for me, it was just business. The reason I was voting was to make sure that if Barack Obama didn’t win, it wasn’t going to be, because I didn’t vote. It took me about an hour and fifteen minutes, and then I was on my way to work. And I called my friend Cheryl, because it was her birthday. When I called her, she said, ​“Maxie, guess what? I just had the best birthday gift ever.” I said, ​“What is that?” She says, ​“I just voted for a black man for the presidency on my birthday.” I said, ​“Well, good.” Then when I hung up the phone, I said, ​“Well, at least you got to vote for him.” Then I went to work. While I was at work, all my coworkers were talking about making sure they got out to vote. People were actually asking for time off, so that they could make sure that they had time to vote before going home. And everywhere I turned, people were talking about voting. After a while, I actually started to feel some hope. I said, ​“Hmm. maybe this guy Obama could win this election.” 

So, when I got home that evening, the first thing I did was turn on my TV. And I looked and I was like, ​“Oh, shoot, this dude is winning.” So, I stayed glued to my set after that. Now, normally, whenever I vote, I just wait till the next morning to find out what the results are. But this time, I wanted to know right away. So, I called my friend Martin and I said, ​“Martin, when do we find out who won the election?” He laughed at me and said, ​“Dude, 11 o’clock.” So, I said, ​“All right.” I was sitting and watching, and then I dozed off to sleep. And I woke up to chants of, ​“Yes, we can. Yes, we can.” 

I was looking at the TV and they were showing this huge crowd in Washington, D.C., then they showed this huge crowd in Chicago, Illinois, and then they showed this huge crowd in Harlem. And I was like, ​“Harlem? I ain’t seen no crowd in Harlem. [audience chuckles] Where’s that crowd?” Now, two doors from my apartment, there was a Barack Obama campaign office. So, I said, ​“Well, maybe they’re out there.” So, I decided to go outside and see. Now, by this time, I had on a pair of sweats that I only wear to bed. [audience chuckles] But I figured no one’s going to notice. [audience laughter] 

When I got outside, there was nobody there. So, I said, ​“Well, nobody’s here. Maybe they’re on 125th Street.” When I got to 125th Street, I looked west, I saw nothing. Then I looked east towards 7th Avenue, and I saw these bright lights and a huge crowd. So, I said, ​“I wonder if that’s the crowd on TV.” So, I went over there to see. As I approached 7th Avenue, there was this huge stage set up, and celebrities were on the stage talking to the crowd, and they had the crowd chanting, ​“Yes, we can. Yes, we can.” When I got there, I saw this huge jumbotron set up, and they were showing up to the minute coverage of the election. 

Every time it showed Barack winning in another state, the crowd cheered, ​“Yes, we can. Yes, we can.” The police were trying to keep the traffic moving on 125th Street, but it was almost impossible, because people were jumping out of their cars screaming, ​“Obama.” [audience laughter] I saw one of my neighbors, Lisa, and I went over to say hi, and she just started crying. She said, ​“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe it.” And I said, ​“What?” She said, ​“A black man is about to be President of the United States.” And the moment she said that, the crowd just erupted. I turned around to see what was going on, and the jumbotron said, ​“Barack Obama elected 44th President of the United States.” [audience cheers and applause] 

And right then, a total stranger just hugged me, [audience chuckles] saying, ​“We did it, we did it, we did it.” And then, next thing you know, another stranger hugged me. And we were jumping up and down, going, ​“We did it, we did it, we did it.” And then, suddenly, I thought, we did it. I wonder what my father would think about this. And at that moment, a tear started rolling down my face. I had to step aside outside of the crowd, and I said, ​“Well, Dad, I’m sorry, it didn’t happen in your lifetime. But thank goodness it’s happening in mine.” Just then, my cell phone rang, and it was my friend Kelly. She said, ​“Maxie, where you at?” I said, ​“I’m on 125th Street. Come here. Let’s have a drink.” 

She came and met me, and she said, ​“Okay, where we going?” And I said, ​“Let’s go to Lennox Lounge.” We started walking to the Lennox Lounge, and we passed by the Lenox Avenue subway station, and people were coming up in droves off the subway onto 125th Street. They were just hugging people. Everybody was just hugging each other. I must have hugged about 50 more strangers. [audience laughter] Then we got to the Lennox Lounge. As soon as I stepped in the door, a man pushed me in and slammed the door behind me and said, ​“That’s it. We’re at capacity.” The place was packed. It had young people, old people, black people, white people, rich and poor. Everybody was in there just celebrating, having a great time. 

People were dressed up in formal wear, [audience laughter] and I had on my pajama sweats. [audience laughter] And all of a sudden, a hush came over the whole room when Obama came out to make his acceptance speech. And even though I was listening to the speech, I was looking around the room, and everybody was just captivated and hanging onto his every word. And then, suddenly, when he said, ​“Change has come.” The whole room erupted again. And then, when all the celebration was over, I stepped back out onto Lenox Avenue, and people were still all in the streets. Cars were blowing their horns, trying to get through. I turned, and I saw a Dixieland band coming toward me. 

So, I started walking home across 125th Street. The sun was coming up. A crew was dismantling the stage, taking down the jumbotron. I stepped into a bodega and picked up the newspaper, tucked it under my arm, and went on home. When I got home, I found I had left my door unlocked. The TV was still on, the lights were still on, and I sat down and I said, ​“Did this really just happen? Is a black man really the President of the United States? Was that a Dixieland band?” [audience laughter] I took the newspaper and went to set it down on the coffee table, and I read the headline for the very first time. And it said, ​“Change has come.” And I said, ​“Yes, it has.” Thank you.