Opinion: People from L.A., Kenya and Alabama wait on the Mall for ‘big history’

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WASHINGTON -- A shoulder-to-shoulder crowd gathered at the foot of the Washington Monument, hours before the swearing-in ceremony, which will be visible from here only on a Jumbotron TV. That didn’t stop retiree Nelson Daniel, 63, and his wife, Tina, of Los Angeles from arriving at 5 a.m. to stake out a viewing spot.

‘This is big history,’ said Daniel, who was bundled up. ‘Once-in-a-lifetime experience. My mother and grandparents dreamed of it. I have a chance to witness it for them.’

Seated near the couple was Tia McNeill, who was born in Kenya and now lives in Houston. Eight of her family members from Kenya came to the Mall.

‘This is as big for Kenyans as it is for Americans,’ she said.

Also in the crowd at the Washington Monument was Gloria Washington-Lewis Randall, an African American from Alabama who spent 2 1/2 weeks in jail after participating in a civil-rights demonstration in 1963. Now, 62, she was joined by her friends waiting to watch the ceremony int he cold.

‘I’m totally ecstatic,’ she said. ‘You don’t really notice the cold out here. It’s a warmness that’s coming up. Because no more will we be called black or white. We’ll be called Americans.’

-- Richard Simon