WE HAVE OVERCOME TODAY
My latest at PJ Media is up. It examines the historic nature of Obama’s inauguration; that we have gone from “Whites only” drinking fountains to toasting an African American president in the White House within the span of my lifetime:
Is it really possible we have gone from “Whites Only” drinking fountains to toasting an African American president in the White House within my own lifetime? I can easily recall the civil rights story told nightly through the grainy news film of the time. Images both unforgettable and horrifying were a nightly staple of the news. The dogs and fire hoses being let loose upon children. The beatings of demonstrators who sat stoically, knowing full well the blows were coming and refusing to fight back. And always, the dour, glowering faces of the southern authorities who resisted to the last.
The hate in those faces and so many others would have convinced anyone that it would be many generations before the majority of whites would have accepted equality, even in the abstract. And yet …
We forget how truly remarkable a nation we are. We forget the courage of those who stood up to the hate, the evil traditions, the 300 years of abominable history that saw African Americans as slaves, serfs, and second class citizens. In the end, what they did mattered. Their sacrifices were not in vain, despite the idea that at times it must have seemed the mountain was too high and the path too steep.
We didn’t realize it at the time, but they were not only carrying the hopes of a race up that Everest, they were redeeming all of us who, through neglect apathy and ignorance, had failed utterly in making the words of the Declaration of Independence come alive and actually mean something. “All men are created equal” sounded hollow indeed to someone forced to sit in the back of a bus, or stay at a “Coloreds Only” motel, or who ran into barriers in employment and education due to the color of their skin.
No, the election and inauguration of President Obama does not banish racism or discrimination from America. That happy event is still in the future. But inaugurating Obama allows us a glimpse of such a future on the distant horizon, barely discernible but now a definite form shimmering in the morning sun. And a clear path to that goal is in front of us just waiting for us to take the first step.
Read the whole thing.
So, you freakin’ lied?
Well, I guess that’s appropriate on a day like today, a true celebration of how we got here.
I already responded to you there, so no reason to duplicate the post, but you seem on a mission to piss people off lately. Using the phrase “Word Made Flesh” surely did it. Congratulations!
Comment by Sara in VA — 1/20/2009 @ 8:41 am
Rick:
Your article brought back memories.
My family owned a cottage on Magician Lake, part of the Sister Lakes in Dowagiac, Michigan. Every summer, right after the school year ended, we abandonded our home in NW Indiana and moved to “The Lake”. For the entire summer, TV was off-limits and we spent our free time reading comic books, fishing, swimming, skiing, hiking, turtle hunting, etc.
I was four years old on July 20, 1969 when my parents dropped the “No-TV” rule and my family gathered around to watch the moon landing. The reception on our seldom-used black and white TV, complete with its rabbit-ear antenna was horrendous, but to me, I remember the event with utter clarity.
Comment by JoeCHI — 1/20/2009 @ 9:49 am
It’s a beautiful piece of writing.
Looking at the sneering, hate-filled, rageoholic comments at PJM I have to ask: Rick Moran, why are you still hanging around with those people?
Comment by michael reynolds — 1/20/2009 @ 10:32 am
Now with that off our chest,you can go back to what, I believe, you do best: writing about Jack Bauer and 24. Not that we don’t enjoy your insights on political things but your 24 recaps are about the best literature in today’s blog world.
Coming soon. And I’m sure tomorrow I will go back go skewering Mr. Obama’s plans to giveaway our future. But today, we are witnessing a hinge of history - an event that might happen once a century. Judging by my admirers over at PJM, it appears that American’s ignorance of their own history is alive and well.
ed.
Comment by cedarhill — 1/20/2009 @ 10:36 am
I hope this represents another triumph over entrenched racism. I fear it represents the triumph of affirmative action over a color blind society. We’ll see soon enough, but if it is the latter rather than the former, expect racially tinged politics to get worse rather than better.
Comment by jackson1234 — 1/20/2009 @ 11:14 am
Funny how some can equate this with the culmination of the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. when so many voted for a man BECAUSE of the color of his skin, not inspite of it. The culmination of Dr. King’s dream would be that the color of a man’s skin would never come up, ever, in any discussion. But it did “Oh, and did I say he is black?”
And while Dr. King saw equality among all races in our nation, the American Indian is still living in squalor, forced to remain on reservations where their hope for the American dream is dashed at birth.
And as we watch ever increasing black on Hispanic and Hispanic on black crime rise on our major cities, where are the leaders of those groups taking to the streets to end the bigotry there? Somehow, that kind of bigotry never seems to make the news, but a national network said a few days ago that security had been increased in D.C. because the government was worried about “white” supremacists. If we think that electing the first bi-racial president will end the “white guilt” pandering of left leaning media, that has already been dashed on the rocks of reality.
Is this a historic day? Yes, but only in the fact that, once again, our nation has acheived the peaceful transference of power without the aid of force.
And those who try to apply this to the goals of Dr. King, which were clearly that race would NEVER be an issue, only prove that the nation has not yet reached those goals.
Comment by retire05 — 1/20/2009 @ 11:20 am
It is a great day for America that is for certain. Sure racism and hostility are not just going away (and that applies to all) but today also represents the ability of our society to reinvent itself. Today I don’t want to talk about all the negatives and political differences but celebrate exactly this.
Comment by funny man — 1/20/2009 @ 1:43 pm
“…the American Indian is still living in squalor, forced to remain on reservations…”
They’re required to stay there?
I had not known that.
Comment by El — 1/20/2009 @ 2:06 pm
White only drinking fountains? In your life-time? Just how old are you?
Where did you live because where I live in Michigan, blacks were everywhere, worked in the auto factories, voted, etc.
The ascendency of an inexperienced liberal/leftist lawyer is only the begining of the end of the United States. We used to be a meritocracy but we have devolved into “equal outcomes” via the obsession with race/ethnicity and so called “white guilt”. Politics, newsmedia and Hollywood have all merged into one. They are the same thing.
Hmmm, me thinks liberalism (of the left or the right) is a mental disorder…..
Comment by bet — 1/20/2009 @ 2:13 pm
I wonder if all the people hoping that we’d have some sort of divine transformation, today at noon, understand how Joe Lowery illuminated why no such transformation will occur.
The civil rights leader’s words, asking for a day when “blacks aren’t asked to give back, brown can stick around, yellow will be mellow, red man can get ahead, man — and whites will embrace what is right,” support those who never believed the truth of a supposed post-racial Obama administration.
As Rick said, ‘No, the election and inauguration of President Obama does not banish racism or discrimination from America. That happy event is still in the future.’
I think many Americans now have a much clearer idea who is responsible for racism today.
Comment by Sara in VA — 1/20/2009 @ 2:20 pm
Bet,
I used to live in Michigan too and I will tell you that your ‘white guilt’ concept is more an urban myth than reality. Please don’t confuse Talk Radio slogans with Conservatism.
Comment by funny man — 1/20/2009 @ 3:16 pm
El, no, the Souix are not required to live there any more than those who live in the ghettos that Jesse Jackson is always harping about are required to live in those ghettos.
But I wouldn’t expect you to understand the plight of the most persecuted segment of our society. After all, affirmative action rules do not apply to Native Americans or Asians.
The cost of this Obamamaniagala would have provided everyone of those Souix with $4,600. But I guess the left have their priorities.
Comment by retire05 — 1/20/2009 @ 3:30 pm
Reading these comments I can understand how the GOP came to be the all-white party.
I’m trying to think of a brand that’s fallen further, faster than the GOP. All that comes to mind is “Members Only” jackets. Or maybe “House of Blues” after people realized it was mostly about Bruce Willis playing harmonica. The GOP’s gone from being a party to a punch line.
Comment by michael reynolds — 1/20/2009 @ 3:52 pm
Retire,
sure AA applies to Native Americans too. BTW, it’s Lakota not Sioux anymore.
Comment by funny man — 1/20/2009 @ 4:47 pm