Standing in Line

My son sent me a quote that I found extremely prophetic and eloquent. Think of this: “Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama is running so our children can fly.” Talk about a piece of history! Talk about trees bearing fruit; about the audacity of hope.

It wasn’t so long ago that our family watched Eyes on the Prize on the public television station. Our children watched first hand accounts of how blacks were treated and mis-treated. They watched the leaders of the Civil Rights movement strategize and execute plans that demanded equality for blacks in this country. They saw how we evolved from slaves to niggers to Negroes to Black and Proud to African Americans. And while they grew up in ethnically diverse communities, their grandmothers cosigned the stories we watched. How can you forget the images of the hoses and dogs unleashed on Americans who only wanted to live the American dream? How can you forget sitting on the back of the bus or the dead Negro hanging from a tree? What about the four little girls?

We’ve come a long way baby! This past February I searched all 800 cable channels (ok, not that many but it seemed so) and there were no programs celebrating Black History Month. I wondered how the young people today would even know about our struggles because for sure they watch TV. Today I read an article about 109 year old Amanda Jones who mailed in her vote for Barack Obama. Mrs. Jones never in her life thought she’d have a chance to see an African American man elected President of the United States. My how we’ve changed and yes, change has been a long time coming.

But let’s see how far we’ve really come because I remember a big part of the Civil Rights movement was to make sure we were registered and allowed to vote. Do you realize that it’s only been since 1965 that we’ve had that right? That people have actually died so that we can experience that American duty? The quote is so beautiful because when Rosa Parks sat, she actually took a stand. She stood against segregation and racism. When Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walked with hundreds of thousands to Selma and Washington DC etc., he actually took a stand. He stood so that one day his dream that we are recognized by the content of our character, not the color of our skin, would be realized. Barack Obama took a stand when he decided to run. He stood so that our country, while built on the backs of our ancestors, would come together as the founding fathers envisioned. He is standing so that each American has unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He is standing so there are no barriers that education, hard work, passion, a love of God and of country – no barriers can stand in the way of reaching our destiny!

Now we have to stand. We have to stand in line and cast our vote. It is our right, our obligation – no, our duty to stand until the last man in line has pushed the button. History is ours for the taking and the making but only if we’re willing to stand. Stand so your children can fly!