“Rosa sat so Martin could walk

Martin walked so Barack could run

Barack ran, he ran and he won

So all our children could fly”

 

I’ve gotten so used to seeing Barack Obama on TV as my president that I don’t always think about what I’m seeing. But when I hear this song, it takes me back to that moment when I found out Barack Obama would be the first African-American president of the United States of America.  So many people fought, struggled and died to bring about that day and this day – a day when I can forget, even for a moment, that my president is a black man.

 

“Rosa sat” – Rosa Parks stood up for her right to be treated as a human being by sitting down on that Montgomery bus.

 

“Martin walked” – The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the visible leader of a movement that walked from Selma to Montgomery, marched on Washington and in many other places in this nation to fight for equal treatment and the right to vote.

 

“Barack ran” – The very idea that this nation – the same country in which a few short years ago I would not have been able to ride a bus from one state to another without worrying; the same country in which integrating Little Rock Central High School required the intervention of the National Guard; the same country in which Medgar Evers was shot in his driveway because of his activism – that this country chose a black man as a presidential candidate is profound. 

 

I remember a conversation I had with one of my teachers at the time.  He asked me who I was for – Barack or Hillary – I told him that I was afraid to root for Barack.  After growing up with stories of black activists getting shot and beaten, I was afraid to watch that happen to someone else.  I was afraid to hope.  My teacher smiled and reminded me that we have to hope for the future, we can’t live in fear.

And then it happened.  Barack Obama was elected the 44^th President of these United States of America.  The joy of hope fulfilled shot through me that night; joy that so many people were joyful – could be joyful, wanted to be joyful.  It was magnificent.  

            I think of those people who stayed up late into the night planning marches and demonstrations; those people who put their bodies and lives on the line to walk into fire hoses and growling dogs; family members who were terrorized, beaten or shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time or refusing to be less than they were – the election of this black man to our highest public office is not only a testament to the efforts of those who went before, but a vindication of their faith in America.

 

Rosa sat – so Martin could walk

Martin walked – so Barack could run

Barack ran – he ran and he won

So that all our children could fly.