“We affirm the
promise of our democracy.” Said Obama in his inaugural address, “We recall that
what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of
our faith or the origins of our names.”
As fate would have it President Obama’s second inauguration
ceremony fell on the day America has set aside to honor Martin Luther King,
Jr., another historic and praiseworthy American. Martin Luther King, Jr., who
spent his life fighting for civil rights, is the only African American to have
a federal holiday in his honor. And while the inaguration was meant to honor President Obama and his future in America, it is important to look to the man that in many ways paved the path for President Obama to take Presidential office.
King is often hailed as the most influential leader in the Civil Rights Era, organizing peaceful protests, petitions and activities in the name of equality throughout the fifties and sixties.
King is often hailed as the most influential leader in the Civil Rights Era, organizing peaceful protests, petitions and activities in the name of equality throughout the fifties and sixties.
It was King’s bible that Obama’s hand was resting on
as he took office Monday. In a time of “separate but equal” King called the
world’s attention to a problem boiling at the heart of American equality. Before
King, African-Americans and whites attended separate schools, lived in separate
neighborhoods, served separately in the military and weren’t even allowed to
drink from the same water-fountains. It was a time of racism and inequality in
American history, strengthened by radical groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and
white supremacists.
According to his biography presented by the Nobel
Peace Prize organization, before his assassination in 1968, he had been
arrested over 20 times, had his home bombed and been violently assaulted at
least five times. However, to King these were not the numbers that mattered.
King had received five honorary degrees, in 1963 became Time magazine “Man of the Year” and, most importantly to King, in August
of 1963 over 250,000 people came to hear him give his famous “I have a Dream” speech.
At only thirty-five King became the youngest man ever to be awarded the Nobel
Peace, deciding immediately to give his prize money (over $54,000) to the
further assist the civil rights movement.
As King pressed on, he pushed America to better
itself, to be what America should have been all along. As King explained in his
famous speech, “I
have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all
men are created equal."
Because
of King’s efforts, the “separate but equal” mentality and laws in America began
to disappear and America slowly took its first steps toward true racial
equality.
And
now it is 2013, and Barak Obama repeats his oath to uphold his duty as
President of the United States of America. According to District of Columbia
officials, nearly 2 million people came in 2009 to see President Obama sworn
into office, and on reelection around 800,000 people attended the ceremony.
Obama
has aged since he spoke in front of those 1.8 million people in 2009, his eyes
are heavier and his hair more grayed. In a report released by the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, America’s unemployment rate has risen to around 7.8% in
recent years and the war in the Middle East still rages on. According
to CNN, President Obama became the seventeenth man in American history to give
a second inaugural address.
“For
we remember the lessons of our past, “Obama said in his second inaugural address,
“when twilight years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a
disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe that in this country freedom
is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter
how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job
loss or a sudden illness or a home swept away in a terrible storm.”
President Obama is a testament, a nod to King and his dream. King’s work paved
the way to equality, his life and efforts ever spent towards justice and
fairness in a time when those things were in short supply. And as Obama walks
that path that King fearlessly laid, America can take a breath and keep moving
to the future because equality, as King knew, was a constant struggle
strengthened by those who spoke out.