This past Monday we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. day. That day was special because it made the inauguration of an African-American President possible. I, as many of you, lived through the 60s. We remember the lynchings of Negroes; we remember the fire hoses and police dogs resisting the marchers; we remember the smear campaign against King. After the cycle of assassinations in 1968 we remember the cities that were nearly burned to the ground. In the early 70s we remember the opposition to forced busing in Boston and the hatred that spilled from the mouths of ordinary Americans. While we couldn't use the "n" word, we sure thought it in referring to them. We remember how we justified our opposition to the civil rights movement. The marchers were all wrong in their approach; civil rights will come another way (although we never knew what that other way was). We proudly said you cannot legislate morality. From a Christian perspective we just said that if enough people were converted then everyone would have their civil rights. How naive was that when the Bible Belt was the battleground for civil rights?
It was the marches; it was the efforts of President Johnson; it was the efforts of the civil-rights legislation of the 60s that changed the way American functioned. Negroes began to achieve their previously denied rights; they began to move up in the economic ladder; their began to wield their political power. Today, millions of white people voted for President Obama because race did not matter. Morality was legislated. People's attitudes did change. Government did its job and America won - we demonstrated to the world that America is the land of opportunity, the land of freedom, the land where change happens peacefully, the land where different peoples can live together in harmony.
President Obama will have to prove himself to all America to warrant a second term. This blog is not a support letter for him; it is a support letter for America. We live in a great country. We Christians should recognize that we too can impact our world; we can fight for our freedoms; we can demand equality; but it will come at a cost. The African-American community paid the price with their lives as well as their fortunes (sounds like the sacrifice our Founding Fathers made); are we willing to pay the same price?
