Our New Era or the Culmination
of an Old Agenda? November 5, 2008
Of course we now have
the news that Barack Obama, US Senator from Illinois will be our 44th President
Here in the day after
witnessing the jubilation in Grant Park in Chicago as well as other venues
across the country it is time to sit a moment or two and reflect upon the
campaign, the country, and the candidate.
I am curious with regard
as to how many people may have viewed the results of the 2008 Presidential
Election and what the collective reaction of our country to that election
might be.
Obviously I speak for
no one but myself, but the news of the President Elect’s victory completely
and powerfully overwhelmed me. My tears flowed until I was so congested
that the act of simple breathing was a challenge. So I began
to examine why the depth of reaction? Why the massive tears I asked
my self? What were the origins of my emotions, and where were they
all this time?
Well my reader, there
is a distinct reason why this event in our nation affects me so deeply.
Let me explain….
In the early sixties,
I was on Air Force active duty and and spent much of that era residing
in Montgomery, Alabama. I assure you that I can vividly recall as
if it was yesterday the infamous Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
I can also recall the moment when a Police Chief turned dogs loose on the
crowds of black people to get them to disperse.
The time I spent in the
military allowed to always have many friends of color. I can recall
riding public transportation with my friends, and if any were black we
were quickly made aware of the seating arrangements. (On several
occasions we went to the back of the bus as well...(our insignificant little
civil rights protests). I recall the separate toilets and water fountains,
the signs declaring “whites only” or “no blacks”. I can recall Martin
Luther King's momentous speech from the Lincoln Memorial and only for a
little later to learn of his assassination.
With Senator Obama’s victory
we have indeed reached a landmark point in the ongoing history of our country.
Martin Luther King stated that he had a dream of his people reaching the
“mountain top” Perhaps on November 4, 2008 we did, at least the peace
I feel in my soul right now seems to indicate it.
With all that occurred
yesterday, this historic election is hardly a zenith, but for sure it is
a sea change. Our friends in the African-American community are not
the only citizens that were beneficiaries of this event, my life is different
today as well! I think we need to regard it as reaching one major
stair step higher toward the completion of the living history of the world's
greatest human experiment...
democracy!
