A North County school teacher is preparing for her trip to Washington D.C. for the presidential inauguration. Constance Murchison said being there to see Barak Obama sworn into office will be a highlight of her life.
Murchison has packed a purse full of pictures and mementos to take with her to the event. She said although she’s flying cross-country by herself on Sunday she's going to the nation’s capital to represent many people who didn't live to see this historic event.
Murchison said she’ll be taking a picture of her parents with her. Her father passed away 5 years ago.
“He would have loved this. This would have been a hoot for him," Murchison said.
Murchison said her mother and father lived through a dark era of segregation and suffering. Constance remembered visiting relatives in the south. "We would have to use the white and colored water fountains and use white and colored bathrooms," Murchison said.
Constance Murchison also showed a picture of another couple she’ll be carrying with her to the inauguration. Murchison said the man and woman in the black and white photograph also battled racism. The picture was given to Murchison by a friend who wanted her parents to be at the event in spirit.
"Knowing that those people paved the way for this young man to now lead the country is just an overwhelming sense of pride for me," Murchison said.
Murchison is also taking pictures of her grandchildren along with a diary to document names and stories of the people she meets.
"I need to be there to bring back the spirit and the momentum of what's going on, to people who can't be there," Murchison said.
People, like Murchison’s fifth grade students at Garrison Elementary School in Oceanside. Murchison hopes those students will be inspired by the historic event.
The elementary teacher said she’ll be wearing an Obama t-shirt that reads, "hope," but she said it's more than that. “It's about what's good for the nation. And he's trying to do what's best for us as a people -- as Americans not African Americans not Mexican Americans not any other kind of American except Americans," Murchison said.
Murchison’s plane leaves San Diego Sunday at 7:30 AM. She plans to stay with friends in the Washington DC area. She said she's not sure where they'll be to watch the ceremony but she said it doesn't matter as long as she's there.
