As I read about the progress our country has made as we celebrate the inauguration of our first African American president, I remember the words of Martin Luther King when he addressed those fighting for their civil rights.
Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
It would be sugarcoating history to forget Martin Luther King Jr.'s own Letter from a Birmingham Jail, this man who went on to say:
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.
For years we have said that any child can be president in the U.S. Tomorrow, a historic inroad will be made as our first African American president takes the oath of office. It is a day to celebrate the progress we have made and take stock of the work left to do so that our actions can match our beliefs, so that we can honor our nation's creed and meet our nation's need to be whole.
There is much work left to do. Obama's election does not erase the poverty of those in the inner city, those whose educational opportunities are determined by their school district, those whose futures are circumscribed in ways that do not honor our nation's creed.
As for people with disabilities and the struggles they still face that are often not even acknowledged or part of the public discourse, Terri writes in her post Impossible?:
We can say we don't know how (yet).... we can say we don't want to... but we cannot say "that's impossible" in 2009 and retain any credibility.
I believe Barack Obama in yesterday's speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial extended Martin Luther King's Dream beyond skin color, mentioning disability by name (once again--and yes, I am counting!)
So...
Access to
-Education
-Employment
-Healthcare
-Community events and activities (and inaugurations!)
-Citizenship (ie: membership, belonging, contributing)
-Economic opportunity
-ETC.....
Challenging? Sure. Difficult? Sometimes. Stressful? At times.
Possible? Once we decide to do it.
Necessary? If our country is going to live up to the mission and vision our Founding Fathers laid before us, yes indeed.
Martin Luther King Jr. believed that it is only when we let freedom ring for all people that we will as a nation be free. It is only when we live our nation's creed that we will meet our nation's need.
It is about having no invisible citizens. It is about working together in a way that acknowledges the equal rights of everyone.
Back to Terri:
There is much to do. Nothing is impossible. Your gifts are essential. We are going to be friends.
Works for me!How about you?
2 comments:
Thanks Ruth, It is a day for prayer, reflection and resolution!
Michelle Obama's biographer was speaking on c-span this AM. Michelle's father had MS. When she was at Princeton, the family visited in an adapted/handicapped accessible van.
Whenever I hear about her father, i feel there will be someone in the Whitehouse who knows what it's like to have a person with a disability in the family.
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