Published January 21, 2009

Tribal members inspired by colorful day in D.C.

By Robin Washington
Duluth News Tribune

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The dozens of point-and-shoot cameras couldn't do it justice, and any TV set would give you way more detail. But the view of the Capitol from the top-floor terrace of the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian was breathtaking — if in very quick breaths. Even by Northland standards, it was cold out, especially for those from mild climes among the tribal leaders gathered from across the continent.

And worth it, said Reggie Pagaling of the Chumash Nation near Santa Barbara, Calif.

"Absolutely," he said. "Man of color in office? Damned straight!"

What Pagaling considers cold is nothing to Fond du Lac Band Chairwoman Karen Diver, who had an official ticketed seat in the shadow of the Capitol but opted for the museum's vantage point instead.

"I think tribal leaders got the premiere view, and how wonderful that it's the first president of color on top of it," she said.

Not that throngs below were spending their time complaining. Amy Bergstrom, a Red Lake tribe member who works in the University of Minnesota Duluth College of Education, took a spot on the Mall right next to the reflecting pool.

"It was so uplifting and positive; it was a movement of people. It was the epitome of what our country is all about," she said, adding the Capitol also "looked gorgeous" from ground level.

"There was young, there was old, [every] color was there. It really looked like who we are as a people," she said of celebrants with windburned cheeks enduring the brisk winds and temperatures in the teens.

At the museum, the onlookers on the terrace at times took refuge in a conference room with a wide-screen TV. Just before noon, the room grew pin-drop quiet as Yo-Yo Ma played his cello on the big screen.

And when the CNN announcer broke in exactly at noon to say that, at that moment, despite having not yet taken the oath of office, Barack Obama was president of the United States, it burst into applause.

"It brought tears to your eyes," Bergstrom said of the new president's speech that followed. "Obama talked about 'being a good piece of the puzzle.' We've lost that in the last eight years." Added Diver, back with her daughter on the terrace and

its commanding sweep of the nation's sentinels of power, and nearly 1 percent of its souls: "I couldn't think of a more unifying message he could have given the nation. He was eloquent. He was inspirational. And I believe firmly that with a speech like that, people can feel that their hope has not been misplaced."

Robin Washington is news director of the News Tribune. He may be reached at rwashington @ duluthnews.com.