Will President Obama bring home the Olympic gold to Sweet Home Chicago?

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Crowds frolick around "The Bean," an Anish Kapoor-designed 110-ton stainless steel sculpture that helps define downtown's Millennium Park. WHEN Chicago is named as the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, you can bet locals and tourists alike will be celebrating at this gorgeous Windy City spot.
Crowds frolick around "The Bean," an Anish Kapoor-designed 110-ton stainless steel sculpture that helps define downtown's Millennium Park. WHEN Chicago is named as the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, you can bet locals and global tourists alike will be celebrating at this gorgeous Windy City spot, with Chicago's distinctive skyline in the background.

Many of us living here in Chicago were thrilled to wake up this morning and learn that President Barack Obama confirmed that he will INDEED be making that Air Force One flight to Copenhagen, Denmark, later this week to help his adopted hometown of Chicago secure the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

UrbanTravelGirl readers know I have much love for our American commander-in-chief, as well as for First Lady Michelle and their two adorable daughters Malia and Sasha. I’m beyond proud to have this beautiful black family representing what’s RIGHT about America – its opportunity and its promise. So the fact that the Chicago 2016 Olympic team is counting on Brother Barack as the “closer,” to bring home the Olympic gold to Sweet Home Chicago, is almost too much for this South Side native.

Not sure how many of you have ever traveled to Chicago or know much about the city, but the “South Side” always gets a bad rap. It’s largely (as things often are viewed in America) because it’s home to a significant portion of the city’s African-Americans. Yes, there are plenty of violent, rundown parts of the South Side, but there also are majestic tree-lined enclaves filled with smart, open-minded people like Hyde Park (home to the world-renowned University of Chicago and the Obamas themselves!) and Beverly (a community that rivals those on the tony North Shore).

Just four days from now, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will vote and determine whether to bestow the 2016 Summer Games on Tokyo, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Chicago. And for me, the fact that two African-American South Siders – Barack and Michelle – are going to be standing on that podium (along with Multimedia Queen Oprah Winfrey) making the case for bringing the world to this amazingly diverse city on Lake Michigan shores is cool beyond words. These two worldly, well-traveled black folks, who have not just succeeded in these supposedly United States but thrived beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, prove that the phrase “only in America” still rings true.

"Fired up and ready to go," indeed!

Say amen, sister: Get a spiritual boost by visiting houses of worship when traveling overseas

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My mom Gloria stands just outside the Rome Baptist Church during our 2007 trip to the Eternal City for our friend's wedding.
My mom Gloria stands just outside the Rome Baptist Church during our April 2007 trip to the Eternal City for our friend Monica's wedding.
A view from just above the entrance to the Rome Baptist Church, which stands in the charming Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, just off one of the poshest shopping streets in town.
A view from just above the entrance to the Rome Baptist Church, which stands in the charming Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, just off one of the poshest shopping streets in town.
Here's Holy Trinity Anglican Church in the gorgeous French Riviera city of Nice. This multiethnic congregation welcomes English-speaking worshippers from all over the world.
Here's Holy Trinity Anglican Church in the gorgeous French Riviera city of Nice. This multiethnic congregation welcomes English-speaking worshippers from all over the world.

I don’t know about you, but I’m often more psyched about going to church on the road than hitting a bunch of must-see museums and boutiques. Although mornings and I have never been friends, when I’m overseas, I make a point of finding an English-speaking service, whether I need to hop on a subway or bus or use my own two feet to get there. I enjoy the religious aspect of worship but for me, it’s also about experiencing local culture in one of its most authentic and expressive ways.

A friend from work recently left on her first trip to Italy, and besides sharing the names of fabulous trattorie, ristoranti and shops, I suggested she stop into St. James Church, which I used to attend during my days of living in Florence. Introduced to St. James by artist friends Louise LeBourgeois and Steven Carrelli from my very own Grace Episcopal Church in downtown Chicago, I found this congregation a beacon of warmth, welcome and friendship. And while its Episcopal worship style is much more “high church” than at Mt. Calvary Baptist which I attended as a kid on the South Side of Chicago, it’s full of international people who speak English – no small thing when you’ve spent the rest of your week struggling through broken Italian! (I still get misty-eyed when I get its weekly e-mails and way jealous when I read about its “day trips” to Assisi and other historic towns.)

One reason I fell so hard for St. James was the soulful singing of the world-traveling Florence Gospel Choir, led by Virginia native Nehemiah Brown. Forget about that old American adage that “11 o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week.” Nehemiah had these Italians, Germans, Brazilians, and a few African-Americans singing gospel classics so passionately they might as well have been in a church in Philadelphia or L.A. (Check out one of their videos here.) And on Sundays when the choir sang, I was transported back to the South Side, where my dad Farnell was a minister of music at Covenant and Baptist churches for nearly 40 years.

Even if we don’t go regularly now, many – if not MOST – of us black folks grew up going to somebody’s church. Besides, even if you’re not super-religious, there’s something special and sacred about being in a house of worship – ANYBODY’S house of worship – even if it’s not a faith tradition you follow. 

It’s all about the idea of FELLOWSHIP, the bringing of people together. That’s why — even if you’re shy or traveling alone — it’s so neat to stop by the “coffee hour” or whatever gathering is held AFTER the service. It’s there you’ll meet church members, many of whom are expats living in their chosen countries and eager to chat about their overseas experiences. And you’ll meet fascinating fellow travelers who, like you, have found sanctuary in this same holy place.

My mom Gloria, a Sunday School teacher for more years that she’d probably want me sharing on this blog, and I love to do this. When in Rome for an Italian friend’s wedding last spring, we made our way to the Rome Baptist Church (no joke!) in a lovely small piazza just off one of the chicest shopping streets in the Eternal City. We sat in on a Sunday School class taught by a wonderful African teacher, met fellow students from South Africa, Nigeria and the States, and enjoyed a morning worship service in the same city where St. Paul was imprisoned, wrote letters that later became books of the Christian New Testament, and likely was martyred.

We did the same thing last fall before leaving Barcelona on a Mediterranean cruise. Taking a cab up this Spanish port city’s winding hills, we found ourselves at the small yet super-friendly St. George’s Church, an Anglican/Episcopal congregation filled with members from across the globe. Not only was this a church I would have been HAPPY to call home if I lived in Barcelona, but these were smart, well-traveled folks who were just as down to earth as any we’d ever met. (And coming on the heels of Barack Obama’s election as president of the United States, we found ourselves embraced by folks who just wanted to talk about the miracle America had just pulled off!) The service itself was spirited but deeply moving, bringing tears to our eyes as we realized the oneness of worshippers, no matter where they live or where their churches may stand.

Now that I think of it, I’ve checked out Holy Trinity Anglican Church in the French Riviera town of Nice. I’ve attended worship at London’s famed Westminster Abbey, where Princess Diana’s seen-all-over-the-world funeral was held. And any time I’m in Paris on a Sunday, I stroll past the super-posh Four Seasons Hotel George V to the American Cathedral in Paris, where I dream of worshipping when I’m someday living in the City of Light.

But in the midst of all the sightseeing in foreign lands, it thrills me to know that God is the same all over the world, that praises are going up in different languages and dialects and still reach heaven the same way.

And that, in the words of my former Baptist pastor, is something to shout about!

Does ‘traveling while black’ (or brown) help in the nonwhite world?

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"Traveling while black" (or brown) can be a lovely thing in many places in the world. Here, my friends Carol and Karen and I rest on a bench inside the Vatican Museums during a late 2007 trip to Italy.
"Traveling while black" (or brown) can be a lovely thing in many places in the world. Here, my friends (from left) Carol and Karen and I rest on a bench inside the Vatican Museums during a late 2007 trip to Italy.

 

When in Riyadh... here I am, garbed in an "abaya" during a business trip to Saudi Arabia's capital city in late 2007.
When in Riyadh... here I am, garbed in an "abaya" during a business trip to Saudi Arabia's capital city in late 2007.

I’ve had this theory for a long time: While we African-Americans sometimes feel our color can be a pseudo-“liability” here in the States, it certainly can be an asset once we leave our native shores and travel abroad. I was reminded of this last week when President Barack Obama gave his potentially game-changing speech in Egypt.

It was a striking sight to see TV cameras pan across the crowd gathered inside Cairo University to hear him. Most of the faces were some shade of brown, from café au lait to cinnamon to chocolate. From just looking at them, any of ‘em could have been a cousin, aunt or uncle of Obama’s. And while few mainstream news outlets have called it as such, one HUGE reason for our president’s broad worldwide appeal is the fact that he looks like so much of the world.

And since people of color make up a majority of the globe’s population, it makes sense. We know Obama’s also beloved in many parts of Europe, but when Latin Americans and Africans and people in the Middle East see this man, in many ways, they see themselves.

Retired South African Archbishop and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu articulated a similar thought in an Associated Press article published yesterday. Referring to Obama’s upcoming trip to sub-Saharan Africa next month, he said that Obama’s Kenyan roots and ethnicity will automatically give him a level of credibility with African leaders. (Obama will reportedly visit Ghana, his first stop to this region since being elected U.S. president.)

“They can’t accuse him of being a neocolonialist,” Tutu’s quoted saying during a visit to London. “Complexion helps.” (emphasis mine)

It most certainly does—and often, in very tangible ways.

I remember friend Ricki Stevenson, African-American expatriate and founder of the fabulous Black Paris Tours in France, telling me about this phenomenon years ago. Decades earlier, she and her family had lived in the Middle East, and when traveling through airports there, she’d be greeted, “Hello, my sister,” by local employees.

And as comfortable as I have always felt traveling through Europe, the first time I visited a non-Caribbean overseas country and found myself in a place where more of the folks looked like me than NOT was Saudi Arabia. I traveled there in late 2007 during a business trip for my company, decked out throughout the trip in an abaya borrowed from a former Chicago Sun-Times colleague and later in a more opulent one given as a gift from my company’s country executive.

While in Saudi Arabia, I met a businessman who was a dead ringer for my uncle Ras down in Pine Bluff, Ark. I was greeted as “sister” by a traditionally dressed businessman during one of my escorted office-building stops in the big port city of Jeddah. And if I didn’t open my non-Arabic-speaking mouth—except, of course, to utter general courtesies such as “shukran” (thank you) or “Aasalaamu Aleikum” (hello)—I could do a decent job of “blending in.”

While I’ve NEVER been one to suggest African-Americans limit their travel to places where there are other people of color, it’s nice to visit countries where the folks look like they’d be at home at one of your family reunions.

I’ll bet President Obama would agree.

 

"Obama: Savior of the world… and America?"

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This image says it all, doesn't it? Many French people I talked to seem to have as much invested in an Obama presidency as we Americans do.
This image from Dorothy's Gallery pretty much says it all, doesn't it? Many French people I talked to seem to have as much invested in an Obama presidency as we Americans do.

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These works from artist Cyril Anguelidis are part of the “Barack Obama President A United World” exposition at Paris’s Dorothy’s Gallery. The one on the left is titled “Super Oba;” the one on the right is simply called “Yes We Can.” Both have been used as posters promoting this stellar exposition through Jan. 26 — and they capture the world’s hope for Barack Obama’s presidency.

 

“Obama: Savior of the world… and America?” So read the translation from a recent front-page story on a French publication during my time in Paris, the second half of my solo 40th birthday adventure.

This headline may be taking the “hope” message to an extreme, but what a wonderful time to be an American abroad again. 

And what a great time to be an AFRICAN-AMERICAN out in the world.

Since the election of Barack Obama, who’ll be the United States’ first president of acknowledged African descent, folks all over the globe certainly see America in a brand-new light. FINALLY, by electing this black man, we lived up to the platitudes and ideals the nation had been claiming for more than 200 years. We all saw the celebrations beamed from ‘round the world on Election Night – people hugging and crying in Australia, dancing in the streets in Kenya, celebrating after staying up all night long across Europe. But until you’re out in these countries, meeting “real people” who continue to gush about our president-elect, it doesn’t quite hit you just how negatively America has impacted the world over the past eight years – and how much HOPE people have invested in his impending presidency. Just like many of us in the States, they can’t wait for Jan. 20! And we American globetrotters no longer have to be apologists for our country’s policies, or ashamed of our president.

What’s heartening to me as a Chicagoan that now, when I mention my Midwest hometown, the first thing people around the world say is, “OBAMA!!” It’s no longer about Michael Jordan or gangster Al Capone. No, it is the Hawaiian-born former senator who is truly Chicago’s, and the world’s, rock star. Back in May, I remember talking (in terribly broken French) to a housekeeper in my small Parisian hotel who was thrilled about Obama’s chances. My mom and I took a Mediterranean cruise in late November and met people in Italy, in Turkey, in Greece, who couldn’t be prouder of America’s presidential choice. Even an Indonesian waiter on the cruise ship beamed, knowing that Barack Hussein Obama spent some early growing-up years in his native land. This American president truly belongs to the world.

During this birthday trip to France, I had incredibly thoughtful conversations with Europeans about Obama’s election, with them asking I had been “in the park” (my mom and I were!) on that magical Nov. 4th night in Chicago. It happened in Ventimiglia, Italy, where Ristorante Miramare’s young signore and I bonded over talk about the incoming president. In Villefranche, where a waiter at Le Cosmo Restaurant saluted me with, “Yes, we can!” after learning I was from the Windy City. I discussed Obama with my “magic hands” masseur in Paris. With a genteel older Frenchwoman dining next to me at famed tea house Ladureé. At Chez Vong, my favorite Chinese restaurant in Paris, where the waiters instantly piped up, “OBAMA!” after hearing my hometown. And during a home-cooked meal in Villefranche with three wonderful new friends from Ireland (on my 40th birthday, no less!), Olivia, Paddy and Grainne talked at length about our hopes and our fears for Obama’s presidency, one we truly believe can change the world. 

The global nature of this movement truly hit home for me at Dorothy’s Gallery in Paris. A tucked-away enclave in the bustling Bastille quartier , the gallery is owned by Dorothy Polley, an expatriate American who lives in France. During my stay in Paris, I checked out “Barack Obama President A United World,” the gallery’s second and marvelously uplifting “exposition” on the globe-changing election of this man. As you’ll see here, it featured paintings, photographs, sculptures, and even videos from 30 artists around the world — including African-American artist Ealy Mays — on the impact Obama’s ascent has had on the world. It should humble American leaders – and us as regular Americans – that the decisions we make and the votes we cast have more impact on our fellow world citizens than we’ll ever know. And that’s another reason travel is so key in this age of shrinking borders. Rather than just viewing the world’s reaction on CNN, we get to shake hands with it, discuss it, and see it up close in people’s hopeful eyes.

YES, God bless America!