To all Americans: With Obama, it's time to take pride
Jimmy Sengenberger, Perspectives Editor
Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Perspectives
This Perspectives piece was published in the January 26 issue of the Highlander.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!" - Martin Luther King, Jr.
I did not vote for Barack Obama. I do not agree with his politics, his philosophy or his accomplishments. And yet, on January 20, 2009, that fateful day on which he took the oath of office to become President of the United States, I felt a sense of pride. I felt a sense of unity. I even felt excitement.
As far as I was concerned, it was a day to rejoice and be proud, for a task thought improbable-dare, even impossible-had been accomplished. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s righteous dream had seemingly been fulfilled.
Watching the invocation given by pastor Rick Warren, I found myself overcome by goosebumps. Two million people took to the Washington Mall that day-the largest crowd standing on that mall in U.S. history.
Two million people-black, white, red, blue, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Christian-left work, joined with their kids and skipped school just to get a glimpse of history in the making.
Two million people-to see a black man inaugurated as President of the United States. And millions upon millions more, across the globe, on television and the Internet, flooding online streams with such unprecedented demand.
Now, I am the first to admit that I am a young white man, born in the late 20th century, who comes from a sturdy, middle class home with two loving parents and opportunities that many can only dream of having.
I do not pretend to know or to understand the suffering that African-Americans have endured throughout the history of this nation, representing the darkest mark on the founding of this great country.
I do not claim to have experienced hatred on par with that of the likes of Dr. King, and I recognize that, as a white man, I cannot feel the same profound sense of pride and joy and exhilaration and disbelief that those of color feel at this moment in history.
The day after Obama's historic victory, Doreen Watson, associate professor of sociology, said something powerful to me. "When I think about and I see a person who is 83-years-old crying because she never thought she would ever see a black person as President of this country, I know how important it is that a black man became President."
I realize that I can only begin to understand such feelings. And yet, that day I experienced not sadness or anger or fear. I did not feel frustrated or concerned about the future of this country in the hands of a President I feel is ill-equipped to lead it. Rather, I experienced a sense of hope and faith-not in Obama or the Democratic Congress, that "change will come," but rather hope and faith in America, in its people.
To know that little more than 40 years ago, a black man could only be found in the White House wait staff; that just seven years ago we were attacked by Islamic terrorists headed by a man whose name bears a striking resemblance to our new President's; that just five years ago we entered into a war against a man whose last name is that of our President's middle-and yet, to see now this man, Barack Hussein Obama, now residing in the White House...it seems almost unbelievable.
"When I heard Reverend Lowrey at the end, he began his prayer with 'lift every voice and sing,' [and] I just felt so emotional. You know the thought that that guy, Joe Lowrey (87), oh my God, he is the real deal," NPR correspondant Juan Williams, a black American, said on Fox News, breaking down as he spoke of Civil Rights leader, the Reverend Joe Lowrey, who provided the benediction.
"There are other people who might say that they were there with Dr. King, and suffered the indignities, but Joe Lowrey really did," said Williams. "And for Joe Lowrey today to see that black boy become President of the United States, I can't tell you. There are some times in your life where you just think, 'What a country. How can it be? I never thought that that would happen.'"
Former President George W. Bush once said, "I'm optimistic about America because I believe in the people of America."
It seems to me, in light of this historic achievement that we have met as a nation, that that optimism was well-placed.
But now that the curtains have folded back, and the history has soaked in, we must recognize that he is not just America's first black President-he is America's President. In truth, his skin color is irrelevant; the history he has made, immaterial. It's time now to look at the person and the policies. We must judge the President not on the color of his skin, but on the content of his character-on the substance of his ideas and the weight of his actions.
And so, with pride in our nation's accomplishment, we shall.
Jimmy Sengenberger is a first-year Politics major. He also hosts a weekly campus radio show, Seng Center, Thursday nights from 7-9pm on KRCX 93.9.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!" - Martin Luther King, Jr.
I did not vote for Barack Obama. I do not agree with his politics, his philosophy or his accomplishments. And yet, on January 20, 2009, that fateful day on which he took the oath of office to become President of the United States, I felt a sense of pride. I felt a sense of unity. I even felt excitement.
As far as I was concerned, it was a day to rejoice and be proud, for a task thought improbable-dare, even impossible-had been accomplished. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s righteous dream had seemingly been fulfilled.
Watching the invocation given by pastor Rick Warren, I found myself overcome by goosebumps. Two million people took to the Washington Mall that day-the largest crowd standing on that mall in U.S. history.
Two million people-black, white, red, blue, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Christian-left work, joined with their kids and skipped school just to get a glimpse of history in the making.
Two million people-to see a black man inaugurated as President of the United States. And millions upon millions more, across the globe, on television and the Internet, flooding online streams with such unprecedented demand.
Now, I am the first to admit that I am a young white man, born in the late 20th century, who comes from a sturdy, middle class home with two loving parents and opportunities that many can only dream of having.
I do not pretend to know or to understand the suffering that African-Americans have endured throughout the history of this nation, representing the darkest mark on the founding of this great country.
I do not claim to have experienced hatred on par with that of the likes of Dr. King, and I recognize that, as a white man, I cannot feel the same profound sense of pride and joy and exhilaration and disbelief that those of color feel at this moment in history.
The day after Obama's historic victory, Doreen Watson, associate professor of sociology, said something powerful to me. "When I think about and I see a person who is 83-years-old crying because she never thought she would ever see a black person as President of this country, I know how important it is that a black man became President."
I realize that I can only begin to understand such feelings. And yet, that day I experienced not sadness or anger or fear. I did not feel frustrated or concerned about the future of this country in the hands of a President I feel is ill-equipped to lead it. Rather, I experienced a sense of hope and faith-not in Obama or the Democratic Congress, that "change will come," but rather hope and faith in America, in its people.
To know that little more than 40 years ago, a black man could only be found in the White House wait staff; that just seven years ago we were attacked by Islamic terrorists headed by a man whose name bears a striking resemblance to our new President's; that just five years ago we entered into a war against a man whose last name is that of our President's middle-and yet, to see now this man, Barack Hussein Obama, now residing in the White House...it seems almost unbelievable.
"When I heard Reverend Lowrey at the end, he began his prayer with 'lift every voice and sing,' [and] I just felt so emotional. You know the thought that that guy, Joe Lowrey (87), oh my God, he is the real deal," NPR correspondant Juan Williams, a black American, said on Fox News, breaking down as he spoke of Civil Rights leader, the Reverend Joe Lowrey, who provided the benediction.
"There are other people who might say that they were there with Dr. King, and suffered the indignities, but Joe Lowrey really did," said Williams. "And for Joe Lowrey today to see that black boy become President of the United States, I can't tell you. There are some times in your life where you just think, 'What a country. How can it be? I never thought that that would happen.'"
Former President George W. Bush once said, "I'm optimistic about America because I believe in the people of America."
It seems to me, in light of this historic achievement that we have met as a nation, that that optimism was well-placed.
But now that the curtains have folded back, and the history has soaked in, we must recognize that he is not just America's first black President-he is America's President. In truth, his skin color is irrelevant; the history he has made, immaterial. It's time now to look at the person and the policies. We must judge the President not on the color of his skin, but on the content of his character-on the substance of his ideas and the weight of his actions.
And so, with pride in our nation's accomplishment, we shall.
Jimmy Sengenberger is a first-year Politics major. He also hosts a weekly campus radio show, Seng Center, Thursday nights from 7-9pm on KRCX 93.9.
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