I will never forget the numbness in my toes, the shallow chill-like-ice breath in such stark contrast to the immeasurable human warmth that radiated from every person on the National Mall. I remember standing next to an African-American gentleman, who stood there—pressed against me, holding an American flag with his daughter on his shoulders—anxiously awaiting the ceremony to begin. That moment is frozen in my memory: the pure joy, excitement from this man, from hundreds—thousands just like him. In spite of bone-chilling weather, masses upon masses of people; everyone was so happy, so honored to be a part of this historic moment.
“America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”
-the final words of the new President’s inauguration speech.
With a lump in my throat, I glanced over at that man with his little girl on his shoulders. He was crying. Not sobbing, but that proud kind of crying you experience, where your face is almost stone cold, your nostrils might flare a bit, and you have a steady, strong, stream of tears down the sides of your face. I looked over in the other direction and this African-American woman (she must have been 65 at least) was bundled up and sobbing. There I stood right next to her, I was a total [white] stranger and she reached over to my hand and grabbed it with both of hers, hard. She didn’t even have gloves on. She looked at me and cried, “We did it, I never, never thought I would see anything like this. I’m so happy.”
Words seem flat when trying to describe that moment, but one thing that I couldn’t shake was this moment’s echo of Dr. King’s famous march on Washington in 1963. President Obama’s words and energy seemed to answer the famous “I Have a Dream” speech:
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."
I think in our world of political pundits, billions of blogs, media celebrity, and the like, it may be harder and rarer for the average individual to experience a living, breathing, inspirational American symbol or image. I’ve seen the American flag hundreds of times and have always been proud of my country. Yet after seeing thousands upon thousands of the most diverse people waving flags on January 20, 2009…I will never view that flag in the same way ever again.
No matter what our 44th President is able to achieve or fails to achieve while in office; our country is all the better for his election.
