11.05.08

Historic Day

Posted in Events at 10:51 am by Marion

Like the rest of the country (except possibly the West Coast), I am a bit bleary-eyed today after staying awake until after midnight watching the jubilation at Grant Park early this morning as Sen. Barack Obama accepted his role as president-elect of the United States of America.

One of the most moving elements of the election coverage was to see U.S. Rep. John Lewis reflect on the election. Rep. Lewis was among those who stood with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the struggle for Civil Rights, and was beaten for it, along with so many others.

He described the “literacy tests” blacks were often asked to pass, such as “How many bubbles in a bar of soap” and “How many jelly beans are in this jar.” These questions were humiliating. He also described the era of Sen. Obama’s birth in 1961, a time when his white mother and Kenyan father could not have shared a hotel room or sat side by side each other on a bus throughout much of the South — and beyond.

Rep. Lewis was among the people who welcomed His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Atlanta last year, and I remember feeling an instant kinship and respect for this humble giant.

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