They came on planes, train, buses and automobiles. All taking the great pilgrimage to the capitol city of the United States to see history in the making. One group of approximately 40 citizens of New York City boarded a bus in Brooklyn. The group included a 79-year old minister who led them in prayer before the trip. He was born in Harlem and was in jail in 1962 in Albany, Georgia for protesting without a permit. He was jailed with Dr. King for six days with no food. He said that he couldn’t attend the 1963 march on Washington or the Million Man March, but that this was a great opportunity for him because of his age. He said this trip for him was a fulfillment of time because he believes that Americans have achieved the goal of liberty and freedom for all. He stated that he used to have to ride the back of the bus but now he sits wherever he wants on the bus. He also said that he is still in college pursing his BA degree. He went on to say that today the battlefield of the civil rights movement is in the public schools and if we don’t help young people we won’t have future leaders.
One young woman on the bus said that she was representing her mother, her grandmother, and her great grandmother, the women that raised her. And that she had sweet sadness. They never thought they would see this in their lifetime. For them being safe and getting a good job was the best they could ask for – never being president. She said Michelle Obama reminds her of them; she appreciated her for being a strong Black woman who has made it positive for being who you are. When asked if riding to Washington on a bus had any particular significance for her, she replied, “the bus is so reflective of the people it is carrying - it breaks down and gets fixed - something always going on.” At one point the bus stopped for a mechanical failure and she commented, “The bus is like our collective experience - a little resistance - but we’re going to keep going.
One man brought along five boys on this journey to Washington and commented when asked about this trip, “I was at the million man march. I never experienced a spiritual feeling like that. I brought the boys with me because I wanted them to experience the power of this collective gathering. He said he is teaching his sons that we can no longer say that because we are Black that we can’t! He said, “This frees children of a sense of limitation.”
On middle-aged woman from the church that I attend drove from Texas to D.C. by herself. She tried to get someone to go with her, but couldn’t get any takers. She said that she had to be there to hear for herself was President Obama was going to say. She left the Dallas area early Saturday morning and drove until she got tired and spent the night in Tennessee and got up Sunday and arrived at a friend’s house in Baltimore Sunday evening. She said she saw about 25 accidents along the way but nothing was going to turn her back. She said she only goes to the restroom and eats when she needs gas. My family knows that sounds familiar when I drive on long trips.
I had the opportunity to witness many of the worlds’ defining moments of modern history the last few years with the help of the ever present camera; the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989; the end of apartheid in South Africa and Nelson Mandela walking out of prison in 1991;, murders John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, Malcolm X, 911, the marches of Washington, but this moment and the days leading up to it have brought more emotion than all the others combined . I have never seen so many Black folks waving American flags. The media tries to beat down Michelle Obama for her saying that for the first time she had been proud of her country, but when the camera scanned the crowd at the National Mall and all those small American Flags were waving it left the TV commentators and myself speechless.
We all witnessed a part of history that day. And I believe that all of America woke up to what this country can truly be. We still have a ways to go, but I believe that Black people and all people have opened their minds what it truly means to be called American. Everything is possible. I will now hold President Obama to the same standards of success that I’ve held all prior Presidents. For the sake of ALL people in our nation, I wish him and want desperately for him to succeed. When he is successful, we are all, Black, White, Brown, Yellow, Red, better off and that’s really all we can expect from our President, regardless of his ethnic background.
One day soon, there will be no more first Black anything…I am just trying to think of a title where there has never been and I can think of a few just in my neighborhood and probably your too.
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