By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó George Knox could barely come up with the words to describe his emotions at seeing Barack Obama become the 44th president.
“It’s fantastic. It’s unbelievable,” said Knox, who remains the only black person ever elected to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners.
“It’s completely out of this world. I never thought I would live to see this day,” said the 86-year-old Knox, a north Kannapolis resident and lifelong Democrat.
“In the last 20 years, America has gotten a lot smaller in this world. I think we are now looking at each other as citizens rather than black and white, Asian or African, Latino or Oriental,” Knox said, adding, “It’s a good sign.”
Today’s America is far different than what he faced as a young soldier returning from Europe as World War II ended.
Black and white soldiers traveled together by ship and train to Fayetteville and Fort Bragg.
“I had ridden all the way from Belgium. We had traveled alphabetically (by last name). We were troops.
“The first thing I saw at Fort Bragg was a sign with big arrows,” Knox said. One arrow directed whites one way, the other directed “coloreds” in another direction.
“It was kind of discouraging,” said Knox, who had served in the Army in a tank destroyer unit battling the Nazis across Europe.
And his return home got worse.
Discharged from the Army late one evening, Knox and two other black servicemen joined with two white servicemen to hire a car to get home.
They hadn’t eaten and were nearly starving.
The driver stopped at a sandwich shop reputed to have the best hot dogs around.
“We walked in, a guy pulled a .44 caliber gun and stuck it in my face,” Knox said, recalling distinctly the racial slur the man used to order him and the other black soldiers out of the restaurant.
“Keep your hot dogs,” Knox replied as he walked out.
After spending the day watching Obama’s inauguration and the reaction of millions, Knox felt a lot better. “It was a really good speech … trying to bring everybody together. He’s really attempting to unite the country.”
Knox had lots of invitations to make the trip to Washington, but opted to stay home because of health problems.