Date: Thursday, December 10, 2009
By:
OSLO, Norway – Alice Torriente didn’t blink twice about traveling to tramp around in the snows of Iowa to canvass and campaign for President Barack Obama almost three years ago. So it only made sense for her to take another cold-weather trip to show her support for him – this time to Norway.
Like hundreds of others from across the globe, Torriente touched down here to participate in the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, where Obama received the 2009 award earlier this morning.
It doesn’t even matter to her or her fellow members of Baltimore City Women for Obama that they don’t have invitations to any big-ticket Nobel Peace Prize events or assigned indoor seats on what’s projected to be a 34-degree day with rain and snow showers.
What these committed grandmoms and girlfriends do have is unyielding passion for this president and what he represents. And for them, that’s more than enough.
“We’re just so proud of him and his accomplishments and the things he will accomplish for peace and freedom,” Torriente told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “We came to explore the area and meet the people and support our president.”
And that support came from all directions this week. Be they European ex-patriots or travelers from the United States, African-Americans from all backgrounds joined the multilingual, multicultural crowds descending on the Norwegian capital.
Ron King was among them. He has had his brushes with history, but often at ages too young to truly grasp their importance. He was in junior high school when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize. In high school, he introduced a special inductee to their alumni Hall of Fame: Ralph Ellison, author of the masterpiece, "Invisible Man."
But as a grown man, watching history unfold again from his home in Germany, Ron King saw Obama’s win eclipsing those memories. So he made his way to Oslo.
“I grew up on the tail end of the civil rights movement,” King said. “I was involved in the NAACP youth councils and things like that, but the demonstrations were winding down by the time I came along. With Dr. King ... this is just full circle. I had to be here. I couldn’t be this close and not participate on some level.”
Nadia Fattah was still pinching herself that she was in Oslo.
“It’s an adventure,” said the New York-based arts consultant. “Usually I want to be some place hot this time of the year. I never considered Oslo. But I’m having a splendid time.”
Participation for most pilgrims will be limited. The ceremony took place in Oslo City Hall amid an intimate crowd of dignitaries, insiders and media. A public candlelight march for peace will take place later in the evening, and Obama is expected to offer the customary wave from the balcony of his hotel.
Friday will bring the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, a staple of these festivities since 1994. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith will host, with Wyclef Jean and Donna Summer among the headliners. Tickets sold out in seven minutes, so most of Norway – and its visitors – will catch the show on television.
Lisa Cooper, though, is one of the lucky ones, as is her mother and sister, who traveled from the states to join her for the historic moment.
With a stoutly Democratic lineage, it wasn’t long before the New York transplant got to work with Democrats Abroad after moving to Norway in 1989. Cooper spent much of the 2008 election cycle as a proxy for Obama as the group’s chair.
“I was a little nervous in the beginning because Norwegians traditionally don’t have a lot of contact with ethnic minorities,” Cooper said. “I kept wondering, ‘How are they going to respond to this amazingly intelligent black man?’ But it was just magic to see how Norwegians loved him. They were more focused on the content of his character, much like Martin Luther King.”
Of course, many in the country remain in conversation about the nature of Obama's character as it relates to pursuing peace.
When the Nobel committee made its announcement in October, the gasp from onlookers in the room was audible in Norway and repeated across the world. Detractors immediately denounced the selection as premature at best, irresponsible and demeaning of the prize at worst.
At 48 and in his first year of his presidency, Obama is one of the youngest recipients of an award presented to the likes of King, the Rev. Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. For that reason alone, it’s hard to fully embrace this selection, said LaVerne Wyatt-Skriubakken, a South African transplant in Norway.
She listened intently as visiting and ex-pat African-Americans debated the issue in the Springbok Café where she works. Wyatt-Skriubakken only smiled and claimed neutrality on the matter.
Few can make that claim, though, even among supporters. Despite pride in electing a non-white with common skin tone serving in the White House, Obama has proven far from exempt from criticism from African-Americans living here.
Some express disappointment in the pace and choice of his policies, pointing to examples ranging from the health care stalemate, war and warlike tactics in Afghanistan and proposals to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act, the Bush-era surveillance legislation that many Democrats – including then-Senator Obama – denounced as overreaching and dangerous.
“I appreciate the victory and Obama as a person, but at the end of the day, you are to be critical of your leaders,” said Yanique Fletcher, a New York native now living in Norway.
If Terry Carter could give Obama a wish list to cement a legacy-worthy presidency, it would include ushering in a two-state solution, with the 1967 borders, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; ensuring single-payer, government-administered medical insurance for all Americans and lessening the American military footprint across the globe. That would be both trimming the number of bases and leaving Afghanistan and Iraq.
“I expect more of him than I’ve seen,” said Carter, a New Yorker in Norway who, at 81, has enjoyed life as a broadcast journalist, actor and documentary filmmaker. “It’s easy to say our expectations are too high. Many people who got the Peace Prize did not deserve it at the time. Arafat, Gorbachev, Kissinger – one of the greatest war criminals of our time – all won. I do feel Obama has yet to earn it. But he can.”
Marion Basiliali has no such litmus test. The retired Navy chief argues that while she does not advocate war, action in Afghanistan is necessary and that Obama did not let personal accolades – even one as distinguished as the Nobel Prize – cloud his judgment as commander-in-chief.
“People just should have been happy it was going to an American,” said Basiliali, a Cleveland native now living and working in Germany. “As soon as I heard, I was on the phone making reservations to be here.
“Everybody should be trying to work with him,” she added. “If he fails, we all fail. What we should be asking is, ‘How can I help you?’ We need to support someone who is trying to help us all succeed.”
Jennifer J. Beckwith, principal of Kaiserslauten American High School, a school for U.S. military dependents in Germany, agreed, saying Obama is on the right track to achieve what the prize symbolizes.
“I would tell the president to continue what he’s doing, in terms of letting the international community be heard,” the New Orleans native said. “He’s opened this door. And they believe he’s listening."
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