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That is offensive - really offensive. All people are created equal here in America.
Can you provide a link to the presidents and vice president who have been women and people of color. I must have been absent that day in American Civics.
Obama has given me hope to know that success for all people is truly obtainable. I am so excited. In less than 30 short hours, we can call Obama "President-elect" Obama. This will be the first day America can truly say, "All men are created equal."
On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King stood before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and noted that:
"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
It would take almost another year, and murder of 4 young girls in a heinous church bombing, before President Johnson would sign into law the 1964 Civil Rights Act which finally gave the Federal Government the power to enforce the 14th Amendments to the Constitution. But in the ensuing years more murders would take place as Americans, black and white continued to forge ahead to cash that promissory note that King so eloquently spoke of.
50 years later to the day, an African American stood before a multi-racial and multi-ethnic audience of 85,000 Americans to accept his nomination as the Democratic Party's nominee for the Presidency of the United States. This was another step towards the dream that King enunciated 40 years earlier when he went on his now historic speech and said:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today."
Of course King would not live to see his dream come to fruition, how prophetic though that in the last address that he would give he would state:
How prophetic that during his last public address before being murdered by an assassin's bullet that he would speak with surety that someday the nation would come together and make at least part of his dream come true? Speaking 40 years ago at the Mason Temple in Memphis, TN King saw what most of us expect to witness tomorrow, the election of an African American as President of these United States:
"I can remember when Negroes were just going around as Ralph has said, so often, scratching where they didn't itch, and laughing when they were not tickled. But that day is all over. We mean business now, and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God's world. And that's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live.
Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the salves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity."
I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
As we approach the other side, no matter what happens at the polls tomorrow we still all have a ways to go before we reach the promised land, we must at some point look at how far this nation has come in 50 short years and reflect upon the sacrifice that many Americans have made to get us this far.
Regardless of our political persuasions, ideological differences this is a historic moment in the long history of this nation, and a proud one. And, it needs to be recognized as such.
For the first time I actually like living in America. Obama has given me hope to know that success for all people is truly obtainable. I am so excited. In less than 30 short hours, we can call Obama "President-elect" Obama. This will be the first day America can truly say, "All men are created equal."
You are kidding, right? You sound just like Michelle.
Regardless of our political persuasions, ideological differences this is a historic moment in the long history of this nation, and a proud one. And, it needs to be recognized as such.
Nice post Winter. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one thinking about MLK and his dream today. We pulled it up on youtube to watch earlier. The meaning and the realization have not been lost no matter who wins tomorrow.
Can you provide a link to the presidents and vice president who have been women and people of color. I must have been absent that day in American Civics.
There have been five other Presidents with black blood, but they just looked white. So I guess it doesn't matter their descendents were Negroes because their skin was white unlike BHO who is a mixture of both as well, but he looks black.
Nice post Winter. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one thinking about MLK and his dream today. We pulled it up on youtube to watch earlier. The meaning and the realization have not been lost no matter who wins tomorrow.
Every time I rang a doorbell, entered data, put a flyer on a door, I couldn't help but think of Martin, Edgar, Fannie Lou Hamer, A. Philip Randolf, Du Bois, Fredrick Douglas, and too many others to name, including my grandfather who did so much to bring this day about. I couldn't help but wonder what the would say on the eve of this election.
There have been five other Presidents with black blood, but they just looked white. So I guess it doesn't matter their descendents were Negroes because their skin was white unlike BHO who is a mixture of both as well, but he looks black.
That is pure speculation that cannot ever be proven and was not ever proven. It falls under the same category as Lincoln being gay.
Every time I rang a doorbell, entered data, put a flyer on a door, I couldn't help but think of Martin, Edgar, Fannie Lou Hamer, A. Philip Randolf, Du Bois, Fredrick Douglas, and too many others to name, including my grandfather who did so much to bring this day about. I couldn't help but wonder what the would say on the eve of this election.
I've wondered the same thing with Rosa added in. I think they would be in awe. A stunned kind of blissful happy awe that comes around once in a lifetime. It is a dream realized in living color and by that token I think it would take them a little while to truly absorb it, you know? For that matter, I think it may take us all awhile to wrap our heads around it just because of all the possible implications such as what it means for the future.
Just remember, the dream isn't realized yet. Not until all the votes are counted. Nothing is in the bag until everyone votes--please make sure everyone you know votes today!
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very white Grandmother passed on, sad...
