Martina Harris Jr. never thought Barack Hussein Obama would become president. “I didn’t believe it,” Harris said moments after Obama’s inaugural address. “I was flabbergasted. I thought he was going to get shot.”

Now that the nation’s first African American is in the White House, Harris said, blacks can accomplish anything. “Now maybe black people have a role model,” she says, watching the newly sworn-in president onscreen at Salinas’ Hullaballoo. “Now it’s ‘Hey, we can do it.’ It keeps hope alive.”

“THIS WAS A REVOLUTION WITHOUT VIOLENCE.”

Hope and cheers resonated in the restaurant as Salinas-area Democrats watched the inaugural celebration. It was a morning of many firsts.

Jennifer and Michael Jones had never taken a day off to watch an inauguration. “He’s the only president that I’ve voted for that I actually believe everything he said,” Michael said while finishing up a plate of eggs and fruit. Jennifer added that Obama’s plan for change couldn’t have come at a better time, with the economy in the dumps and the Iraq War dragging on.

Teri Short Vasconcellos said she was impressed by the more than 1 million people who filled the National Mall. “That’s an amazing feat, to have a peaceful crowd,” she said. “This was a revolution without violence.”

Obama’s call for change inspired Vasconcellos to become more involved in politics. She campaigned for the Illinois senator, planning to volunteer two days a week. Now she is the office manager and vice president for the Salinas Valley Democrat Club– and a state party delegate. “Now it’s my life,” she said.

Juan Martinez, a Hartnell College trustee, also walked door-to-door for a month, getting out the vote for Obama in Nevada. He collected campaign memorabilia after realizing it all landed in battleground states, not Democratic strongholds like California: “If you wanted a bumper sticker, you’d have to go online.”

The Salinas resident helped put together an exhibit that ties Obama’s rise to presidency with civil rights movements. The exhibit, Renderings: The African American Legacy Project Exhibition, opens at the National Steinbeck Center Feb. 6.

While most inauguration watchers would have rather been at the nation’s capitol, Natala and Matt Constantine just moved from the Washington, D.C. area to California.

“It’s bittersweet because we were there for eights years of Bush,” Natala said, adding she hopes Obama follows through on his plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. Her brother is scheduled to return to the battlefield for his fifth tour.

“He wants to be home,” Natala said, adding that her brother has a pregnant wife waiting for him. “Anybody who can get my brother home, that’s what I want.”