Tuesday, January 20, 2009

We are overcoming


You know, I was watching the inauguration today and thinking about Janice Grigsby.

And I started crying. By the time the Rev. Joseph Lowery -- the old lion of the civil-rights movement -- got out of his wheelchair and up to the rostrum to deliver the benediction, the tears were streaming down my face.

GOD BLESS HIM, at this moment, President Obama's politics are irrelevant. And my quite eclectic politics are irrelevant, and the evil (grin) Republicans' politics are irrelevant.

What's relevant is that I lived to see something -- something positive, at least -- that was unthinkable even 30 years ago.

What's relevant is that Barack Obama has overcome . . . that I have overcome . . . that, God willing, we have overcome.

I found myself wishing that Janice Grigsby would knock on my door so that I could give her a big, fat kiss on the lips, pick her up and spin her around and around.

Because the bastards didn't win, after all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was 10 when Reverend Rudolph McNair enrolled his son, Rudi, in my class at the all-white Washington Elementary School in Omaha, NE. Being a child, I had little knowledge of the social and political reasons, and my parents deliberately downplayed the significance of the integration, hoping Rudi's transition to be as normal as possible. But, there was nothing normal about Rudi McNair. His intelligence, kindness and dignity stood out among my peers. He made a large impact on my life.

After all these years and enormous changes, I wanted to seek Rudi out to thank him for his inspiration, courage and obvious sacrifice. That is how I stumbled upon this blog, I haven't found a way to contact him but maybe someone will read this and pass it on to him.

Anonymous said...

I was 10 when Reverend Rudolph McNair enrolled his son, Rudi, in my class at the all-white Washington Elementary School in Omaha, NE. Being a child, I had little knowledge of the social and political reasons, and my parents deliberately downplayed the significance of the integration, hoping Rudi's transition to be as normal as possible. But, there was nothing normal about Rudi McNair. His intelligence, kindness and dignity stood out among my peers. He made a large impact on my life.

After all these years and enormous changes, I wanted to seek Rudi out to thank him for his inspiration, courage and obvious sacrifice. I haven't found a way to contact him but maybe someone will read this and pass it on to him.