Obama Presidency Will Improve Race Relations
By Brother Rogers
Before he died, Dr. Douglas Conner and I met in a community center in Starkville’s largest black neighborhood. For readers new to Starkville, Dr. Conner was a local physician and a leading spokesperson for African-Americans for four decades.
The meeting itself was not controversial; the subject matter was benign. Out of the blue, he said to me, “You know I was once locked up in this building. It was used as an overflow jail.” He recalled how he had led a large group of young people in a march and said that they were all arrested for seeking the right to vote in Starkville.
The history of our state and our nation is filled with such ugly episodes. As one national columnist wrote, “Racism in America was not just about school segregation, or blacks in the back of the bus, or even the eruption of violence we hear so much about, but also an insufferable ordinariness, a daily slap in the face, thousands and thousands of cuts and abrasions and an attempt to crush the spirit.”
We have come a long way in America. I wish Dr. Conner could witness history on January 20, when America installs as president a man with a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya. The symbolism alone from this event is another step forward to help the country heal its racial demons.
President Bush has been gracious in acknowledging the significance of the moment. From the back lawn of the White House in November, he said that voters “showed a watching world the vitality of America’s democracy, and the strides we have made toward a more perfect union. They chose a president whose journey represents a triumph of the American story – a testament to hard work, optimism, and faith in the enduring promise of our nation.”
The refrain I have heard repeated most often by Democrats and Republicans, black and white, is, “I never thought I’d live to see this day.” There is indeed something special about a country whose black population is only 12 percent – a country that for generations denied blacks the right to participate in politics – electing a black man as president. Only in America.
Electing a black president doesn’t solve all our racial problems, but it is a moment for all who love freedom to savor. Blacks were counted as three-fifths of a person in the American Constitution, were slaves until the Civil War, had their citizenship rights revoked after Reconstruction, and fought hard to gain back those rights in the Civil Rights Movement. And now a president!
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of a brighter tomorrow. January 20 is that brighter tomorrow. King said, “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” He knew that the story of America is the gradual, unrelenting expansion of freedom to everyone. He knew this day would come.
It is indeed a time of celebration, a time of new beginning. It is a time when each of us in our own sphere of influence – home, church, work, school – can commit to improving race relations.
If Dr. Conner was alive today, I think he would ask all of us from all political persuasions and races if we can complete the unfinished work of reconciliation and opportunity for all. Yes we can.
Brother Rogers works at the Stennis Center for Public Service and is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News.
Before he died, Dr. Douglas Conner and I met in a community center in Starkville’s largest black neighborhood. For readers new to Starkville, Dr. Conner was a local physician and a leading spokesperson for African-Americans for four decades.
The meeting itself was not controversial; the subject matter was benign. Out of the blue, he said to me, “You know I was once locked up in this building. It was used as an overflow jail.” He recalled how he had led a large group of young people in a march and said that they were all arrested for seeking the right to vote in Starkville.
The history of our state and our nation is filled with such ugly episodes. As one national columnist wrote, “Racism in America was not just about school segregation, or blacks in the back of the bus, or even the eruption of violence we hear so much about, but also an insufferable ordinariness, a daily slap in the face, thousands and thousands of cuts and abrasions and an attempt to crush the spirit.”
We have come a long way in America. I wish Dr. Conner could witness history on January 20, when America installs as president a man with a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya. The symbolism alone from this event is another step forward to help the country heal its racial demons.
President Bush has been gracious in acknowledging the significance of the moment. From the back lawn of the White House in November, he said that voters “showed a watching world the vitality of America’s democracy, and the strides we have made toward a more perfect union. They chose a president whose journey represents a triumph of the American story – a testament to hard work, optimism, and faith in the enduring promise of our nation.”
The refrain I have heard repeated most often by Democrats and Republicans, black and white, is, “I never thought I’d live to see this day.” There is indeed something special about a country whose black population is only 12 percent – a country that for generations denied blacks the right to participate in politics – electing a black man as president. Only in America.
Electing a black president doesn’t solve all our racial problems, but it is a moment for all who love freedom to savor. Blacks were counted as three-fifths of a person in the American Constitution, were slaves until the Civil War, had their citizenship rights revoked after Reconstruction, and fought hard to gain back those rights in the Civil Rights Movement. And now a president!
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of a brighter tomorrow. January 20 is that brighter tomorrow. King said, “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” He knew that the story of America is the gradual, unrelenting expansion of freedom to everyone. He knew this day would come.
It is indeed a time of celebration, a time of new beginning. It is a time when each of us in our own sphere of influence – home, church, work, school – can commit to improving race relations.
If Dr. Conner was alive today, I think he would ask all of us from all political persuasions and races if we can complete the unfinished work of reconciliation and opportunity for all. Yes we can.
Brother Rogers works at the Stennis Center for Public Service and is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News.