On MLK's Birthday
Inauguration is historic event
By Kelvin Wade | | January 15, 2009 22:20
As an African-American, of course Barack Obama's inauguration has special significance to me.
When I read about someone like 92-year-old Bay Area resident and Buffalo Soldier Cmdr. Ulysses Moore making the trek to the inauguration or Solano County resident James Warren, a Tuskegee Airmen, personally invited to Washington, D.C., by the President-elect, I can't help but be moved.
While the struggle to keep America on the path to justice will by no means be over when Barack Obama takes the oath of office, I'm confident his inauguration will keep us moving in the right direction.
But Barack Obama's inauguration should swell the chest of every American of all backgrounds.
Personally, what Barack Obama's election and inauguration mean to me can be summed up by something seemingly mundane that happened to me at the end of December.
I was having a sweet new cable television system installed. The cable guy was a young black man barely out of his teens. He hooked up my new system and in a calm, professional manner, demonstrated how to use it.
After he finished and I'd signed the forms he had for me to sign, he paused, looked at me and with a barely contained grin, said, 'Three weeks. I can't wait. I'm going to be there.'
Knowing immediately what he was referring to, I turned to a pile of folded laundry on a chair and picked up a black, 'Obama the President,' T-shirt and held it up in front of me.
From there we shared our perceptions of the campaign and spoke about the young man's trip to the nation's capital. And here, standing in my living room, was the embodiment of the hope: A young man who would never have been interested in politics had it not been for that 'skinny kid with a funny name' from Chicago.
This young man's hope, optimism and belief that anything is possible was palpable and mirrored my own.
It's encoded in our American DNA that if you follow your dreams and work hard, you can be anything you want to be. Nothing in my lifetime has made that more real to me than Barack Obama's improbable campaign, election and his inauguration.
In 1963, Martin Luther King wrote that 'Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.'
It would take someone creatively maladjusted to seriously believe that as a black state senator, he could be elected U.S. senator and president of the United States within four years.
The challenges facing us are the most daunting in my lifetime: Unprecedented foreclosures, recession, job losses, credit crunch, budget deficits at ever level of government, two wars, serious foreign policy challenges, and a prestige problem.
Given that, it's insane for us to be hopeful, yet polls show that Americans are still optimistic. We've bought in to the audacity of hope. Now we have to roll up our sleeves and get working.
I'm reminded of another Dr. King quote that 'Faith is taking the first step when you don't see the whole staircase.'
Come Jan. 20th, Americans are ready to take that first step. Peace.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On my DR Blog, I've posted the text of Barack Obama's Philadelphia speech on race, "A More Perfect Union." Past that, you can read a few comments on the Oakland BART station shooting. And following that, I have a message for stupid people. Click HERE.
When I read about someone like 92-year-old Bay Area resident and Buffalo Soldier Cmdr. Ulysses Moore making the trek to the inauguration or Solano County resident James Warren, a Tuskegee Airmen, personally invited to Washington, D.C., by the President-elect, I can't help but be moved.
While the struggle to keep America on the path to justice will by no means be over when Barack Obama takes the oath of office, I'm confident his inauguration will keep us moving in the right direction.
But Barack Obama's inauguration should swell the chest of every American of all backgrounds.
Personally, what Barack Obama's election and inauguration mean to me can be summed up by something seemingly mundane that happened to me at the end of December.
I was having a sweet new cable television system installed. The cable guy was a young black man barely out of his teens. He hooked up my new system and in a calm, professional manner, demonstrated how to use it.
After he finished and I'd signed the forms he had for me to sign, he paused, looked at me and with a barely contained grin, said, 'Three weeks. I can't wait. I'm going to be there.'
Knowing immediately what he was referring to, I turned to a pile of folded laundry on a chair and picked up a black, 'Obama the President,' T-shirt and held it up in front of me.
From there we shared our perceptions of the campaign and spoke about the young man's trip to the nation's capital. And here, standing in my living room, was the embodiment of the hope: A young man who would never have been interested in politics had it not been for that 'skinny kid with a funny name' from Chicago.
This young man's hope, optimism and belief that anything is possible was palpable and mirrored my own.
It's encoded in our American DNA that if you follow your dreams and work hard, you can be anything you want to be. Nothing in my lifetime has made that more real to me than Barack Obama's improbable campaign, election and his inauguration.
In 1963, Martin Luther King wrote that 'Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.'
It would take someone creatively maladjusted to seriously believe that as a black state senator, he could be elected U.S. senator and president of the United States within four years.
The challenges facing us are the most daunting in my lifetime: Unprecedented foreclosures, recession, job losses, credit crunch, budget deficits at ever level of government, two wars, serious foreign policy challenges, and a prestige problem.
Given that, it's insane for us to be hopeful, yet polls show that Americans are still optimistic. We've bought in to the audacity of hope. Now we have to roll up our sleeves and get working.
I'm reminded of another Dr. King quote that 'Faith is taking the first step when you don't see the whole staircase.'
Come Jan. 20th, Americans are ready to take that first step. Peace.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On my DR Blog, I've posted the text of Barack Obama's Philadelphia speech on race, "A More Perfect Union." Past that, you can read a few comments on the Oakland BART station shooting. And following that, I have a message for stupid people. Click HERE.
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