The Paved Path

President Obama made his pledge to "preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States" for a second time before a vast crowd with his hand resting earnestly on two bibles. Monday was President Obama's second time taking the helm of the White House after being elected to office originally in 2009. President Obama became the first Afro-American to ever serve as President of the United States. And President Obama would once again make history after securing reelection last year against opponent Mitt Romney. It was a scene that would have been unimagined in the days of Civil Rights Era activist Martin Luther King, Jr.

 “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.

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.