My President is black.
Correction. Our President is black.
At about 9:58 p.m. central time, this country began a new chapter. A better chapter and one still early enough in the story that you can be confident it ends happily.
As the images swirled across television sets nationwide, and were captured in still frames by photographers in the middle of jubilant pandemonium, this nation, in those moments, I believe, finally found itself. For the first time since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we have stood up, determined and resolute against the ugly face of injustice and said, "We have overcome."
And yet, there are those convinced that this is the worst possible thing that could have happened to us. There are those so restricted and caged in by party lines and loyalties that they are blind to the hand of God in what we are all fortunate and blessed to say we were alive to witness.
On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech in Memphis, Tennessee. On that day, Dr. King set his people on the path to freedom, arming them with faith in God and a zealousness for freedom, and for equality.
The next day he was murdered.
But during that speech, Dr. King spoke of something happening not only in Memphis but in the world around him; something that God Himself had made known to him. He said if God were to ask him in what time he would like to live, he would scan through history, glimpsing all of the proudest moments of mankind and squint into the brightness of those times and close his eyes and point to one of the darkest times.
"I would turn to the Almighty, and say, 'If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy.' Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a away that men, in some strange way, are responding — something is happening in our world."
That something is still happening today and it claimed its proudest moment last night. And think, you saw it happen. You can tell your grandchildren where you were when it happened. And they will be jealous.
Without a doubt, this election has been the most important one in decades. That is evidenced by the record breaking voter turnout alone. But it is mainly shown by the voice of the voters who chose to support Barack Obama. You see, our time though advanced in years from that of Dr. King is much like the troubled world that took his life. And last night, people said enough. Here is Dr. King's thought on this determination:
"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."
However, do not read this as a call to aggression. Instead when you see those who express their anger against Obama's election remember the words of Dr. King.
"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."
Obama's acceptance speech last night filled me with a sincere joy and hope for our country. In it he spoke to our country as one people and invoked them to perceive themselves in the same way.
"As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection...And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too...It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America."
After his call for unity, Obama spoke to those around the world, introducing himself in the proper way a President should: open but determined.
"To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."
Last night, as I watched Rev. Jesse Jackson clutch an American flag as tears streamed down his face, I had to wonder what was going through his mind. Though I believe the man has done a lot of hypocritical and sometimes questionable things, I cannot deny that these actions were all done for the advancement of his people and were all rooted in good. This man stood behind Dr. King in Memphis as he gave his heroic speech and the next day he knelt beside him as he died. Forty years later, his work and his pain have paid off and I have to think those tears were ones of joy mixed with sadness in wishing Dr. King could have been here to enjoy it.
But it is important to remember that Dr. King would not have coveted this night. In the final words of his speech, he makes that clear. He simply wanted to do what God would have him do. And until the final breath he drew, he did just that.
"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."
And so America, don't be worried, or angry, or afraid. God is at work in our country. And though it is yet to be seen whether Barack Obama will lead this country the way he is capable of doing, that doesn't mean we can't pray for that very thing.
I think it is fitting to end with the image that President Obama ended on last night. He told the story of Ann Nixon Cooper, a 106-year-old black woman from Atlanta who has seen the best and worst of America in her long life. Last night could very well have made her life a full one.
"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can."
Cheers
Note: You can read Dr. King's entire Memphis Mountaintop speech here and you can read President Obama's acceptance speech here.
