"Detroit Barack City"

Last night I went to the rally for Barack Obama at Joe Louis Arena in downtown Detroit. (Check out a cool panoramic photo of the 20,000-plus capacity crowd here.) It was, without question, one of the most moving, memorable events I have ever attended in my life.

My sister and I arrived downtown just before 5:30 p.m., roughly half an hour before the doors opened. To say that the area surrounding The Joe was jam-packed doesn't adequately describe the scene. Let me offer you a frame of reference. ("You have no frame of reference here, Donny.") Thirty minutes before the doors opened (and three hours before the actual event was scheduled to begin!), the line of people wrapped completely around the arena and stretched all the way to the Renaissance Center roughly five blocks away. (You can see just how far that is by looking at the two shaded areas on the map here.) In other words, there were a lot of people.

But it wasn't just the massive number of people present that made the event so memorable -- it was the astonishing demographic diversity of the crowd. Passing us as we stood in line were Black parents, grandparents, and children, white married couples, young Muslim women in hijab, a 50-ish Black woman in traditional African dress, an extended Asian family, a young Indian man, several groups of Black teenagers, pairs of white college students, a lesbian couple, and, I'm nearly certain, a partridge in a pear tree. We saw a young woman toting a baby in an infant carrier standing near an elderly couple too frail to walk unassisted. Honestly, the group was so eclectic that if you didn't know beforehand what event we were all attending it is unlikely you could have guessed based solely on the crowd composition.

Once inside the arena the atmosphere was electric, to use a rather tired (but apt) expression. There was an almost palpable energy inside -- it was clear that everyone understood that we were participating in an historic event. In fact, the woman in front of us in line (with whom my sister and I became friendly throughout the course of the evening -- we even sat together inside) acknowledged as much with her three children, making sure they understood the significance of seeing the first (half-) Black presidential nominee in U.S. history.

After introductions by Pistons captain Chauncey Billups, Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, and surprise guest Al Gore (!), Senator Obama finally rose to speak...and the place absolutely erupted. The crowd last night was just as frenzied and the applause just as thunderous as at any concert I have ever been to. People were chanting, waving signs, whistling, yelling, cheering, jumping, clapping -- all for a politician. A politician! Not for Bono, or Dave Matthews, or Chris Rock -- a politician!! It was almost surreal.

I'll wrap up here by sharing a few photos and a video I took...and by noting that, between last night's rally and seeing President Carter speak in Atlanta last November, it's been a good year for attending public speaking engagements!
---
Somewhere close to the beginning of the line extending out (left to right) from the Joe Louis Arena concourse, down the stairs of the parking structure on the right, and winding back past the police cruiser:


Walking east along the riverfront toward the RenCen (that's Canada in the distance!), and still not to the end of the line:


Senator Obama thanks the crowd and begins his remarks (the crowd is chanting "Yes We Can"):