Pivotal moment

Juanita Ashe was a young girl when men in white hoods marched past her family's Atlanta home. Laquoia Simmons, who was born in 1986 and raised in Santa Rosa, has no such memories.

The Rev. James Coffee grew up in Oklahoma, where there were separate facilities for "coloreds." Eric McHenry's Seattle childhood was marked by a sense of pride at his father becoming Boeing Corp.'s first black manager.

By voting for Barack Obama on Nov. 4, these four Sonoma County residents will be doing something they said they never dreamed possible: Casting a presidential ballot for a black man.

"Thinking of a black person going to the White House other than to work or clean -- forget it," Ashe, 77, said of her beliefs growing up in Georgia during a period of violent racial unrest.

Win or lose, Obama's candidacy represents a historic moment for all Americans, as no other minority ever has gotten this close to inheriting the world's most powerful post. But the Illinois senator's campaign resonates more personally for many blacks, whose unique experience living in a country that fought a bitter war over slavery has them attuned to the election with a mixture of hope and fear.

Black Americans are not necessarily lining up lockstep to vote for Obama simply because he is multiracial, the son of a black man from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas. Black voters overwhelmingly vote Democratic, and they cite concerns felt similarly by all Americans -- the economy, the war in Iraq, health care.

But a new survey of political attitudes released this week confirms that support for Obama among black voters is at near-record levels for a Democratic nominee.

The poll, by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, found 84 percent of black voters prefer Obama over his Republican opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who was chosen by 6 percent of respondents, with 10 percent undecided or preferring not to share their preference.

"I'm very proud because of his race and the struggles that he went through," said Eric McHenry, the chief technology officer for the city of Santa Rosa, "but I'm voting for him because the country needs that change -- the country needs that hope."

Nevertheless, it's hard to overstate what an Obama victory would mean for many blacks based simply on the color of his skin.

Ashe, the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of slaves, said such a moment would be overwhelming.

Ashe herself grew up on a cul-de-sac in Atlanta known derisively as "Hurd's Bottom," across the road from where the white police chief and head of the Ku Klux Klan lived.

On nights when they marched, she said, she and her family huddled indoors, afraid they'd be shot if they ventured outside.

"Many times they would shoot and that would be one more black person dead," Ashe said.

Ashe became a communications worker with the Air Force and was assigned to the Pentagon, where she said she handled communications for President Dwight Eisenhower, whom she met and admired.

A small replica of the unmistakable building is on a side table in her Petaluma living room, beneath family portraits, including one of her late husband, Marvin Ashe Sr.

As an Air Force engineer, Marvin Ashe worked on Air Force One, the president's jet. But his wife said his desire to advance his career was stymied.

"He had a commander who didn't care for black people, who said you are here to serve us," Ashe said. "So it was hard for my husband to move up with the military. They didn't want to promote smart black people."

She said she would be "so happy" if Obama won, and one of her sons already has made reservations to attend the presidential inauguration in anticipation of witnessing history.

At the same time, Ashe said she watches Obama's campaign events on TV with a sense of foreboding, worried someone will try to assassinate him. She still has vivid memories of Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King being gunned down.

"I pick out the people who are there to protect him," Ashe said. "It does frighten me a lot. I pray that he and his family get there" (to the White House).

Simmons, 22, was born well after the seminal events of the civil rights era. Her idols are not King or Rosa Parks, but such musicians as Stevie Wonder or Mary J. Blige.

The Santa Rosa woman said she never felt connected to the political process growing up. Her father currently is in San Quentin State Prison while her mother works at a Santa Rosa gas station.

"I was more worried about how I was going to eat that night. I didn't care about politics. I needed help right now," Simmons said of her childhood.

Simmons graduated from Ridgway, an alternative high school in Santa Rosa, in 2005 and is planning to enroll in beauty school.

For the first time in her life, Simmons registered to vote, inspired by Obama's candidacy. Besides agreeing with him on the issues, she said she also likes that he is multiracial. Simmons is dating a Latino man.

"Sometimes when I look at him (Obama) I think, 'That could be my kid,' " she said.

'Wasn't even a dream'

Coffee, 75, never envisioned a day while growing up in Ponca City, Okla., when a black man would be a viable candidate for the highest office in the land.

"It was unthinkable. It wasn't even a dream," said Coffee, the youngest of 13. "All of the schools were segregated. When we read a history book, anytime you'd see a black person, they'd be pulling a cotton sack or working as a maid. They were training you to think this is what you do. You never thought you could be an airplane pilot or telephone operator."

"It was a way of life, and we didn't realize it wasn't right," Coffee said.

Coffee moved to Alameda in 1948 and graduated from high school there. He attended seminary school in San Francisco before taking over Santa Rosa's Community Baptist Church in 1962. He's now in his 47th year at the helm.

Coffee said he isn't supporting Obama simply because he is black. In fact, he was a Hillary Clinton backer until she lost in the primaries. But the preacher said he believes Obama would better address the country's pressing needs than McCain would. He also believes Obama's race actually would benefit him, and the nation, on the world stage.

"I think he would have the ability to help bring about some kind of unity in our country and around the world," Coffee said. "I think his blackness would show what we have always said about America and democracy, about its inclusiveness."

McHenry considers himself the living proof of that ideal.

The 50-year-old Seattle native credits his success to the example set by his father, who was among the first blacks to be hired as engineers for Boeing and was the aviation company's first black manager.

"I was fortunate," McHenry said. "I grew up with a role model who showed me I could be successful."

McHenry earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and began working for Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto in 1980. He moved to Santa Rosa in 1991 to continue working for HP and Agilent Technologies, before joining the city in 2005.

Obama's candidacy appeals to McHenry on a number of levels that go beyond merely political.

At 47, Obama is only three years younger than McHenry. Both have multiracial families. McHenry's wife is half-Japanese and half-Portuguese, and the couple's two grown children reflect that blend of cultures.

Obama and McHenry came of age in the post-civil rights era and thus were not directly affected for the most part by the tumultuous events of that time. Among his influences, McHenry listed "The Cosby Show," which he said he found "welcoming" for its depiction of what he considered normal black family life.

McHenry said Obama's campaign is further evidence of how times have changed.

"This is the front edge of a wave of African-Americans coming into professions and being accepted by their peers of any color," he said. "My father always said that he experienced some racism in his life, but we thought it was a product of society and hoped society would change. Obama's campaign reflects" that change.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.