Shaping History
My father died August 13, 2008.On August 16, I gave the funeral address. As I walked to the front of the church, I realized that everything I knew, remembered and loved about my father was connected to his love for his family, his country, and the Democratic Party. For him, politics wasn't something you read about in the newspaper, but something you lived. Being a responsible citizen, working to make your nation better, nobler and stronger, was the guiding tenet of his life.
Daddy came by his belief honestly. His father served on a commission to update the Georgia State Constitution, and his mother was the first woman to serve as president of the Georgia Press Association. Her proudest moment came when she was elected to the Electoral College as a delegate for Franklin Roosevelt.
But although my father's political journey began with his parents, it grew with the times and adapted to his personal ideals. Born in the deep South, he never thought to challenge racial divisions. After his Army service during the last year of World War II, however, he realized the nation had to put aside its racial fears and prejudice, and that this effort had to start in the South.
When my parents moved to Atlanta, my father took up his cause in earnest. As a leading member of the Democratic Party structure, he was an important element in giving Maynard Jackson, the great mayor of Atlanta, his political start. He assisted in the elections of Julian Bond, Andrew Young, and other lesser known but integral elected officials. He led the campaign of the first Jewish woman to be elected to the Georgia State Senate. He believed in the Great Society, one that was full of opportunity for all.
In his own way, he was one of the small pebbles that eventually led to a mountain of change. He was proud of Barack Obama, and proud of the Democratic Party that recognized his genius and opened the door to his victory.
I cried when Barack Obama moved onto the stage in Grant Park, Chicago as our President-Elect. I cried because Obama's vision and oratory spoke to the deepest hopes I cherish, and I cried because my father wasn't here to witness it. I cried for all the men and women who, before they passed from earth, gave their hearts and souls to a dream of an America united across racial, economic and political lines. I cried for Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Rosa Parks, and the foot soldiers for a better America. Most of all, I cried tears of joy for my grandson, and all our children and grandchildren, who will grow up in a country in which equality is no longer just a dream.
Obama made history tonight. We can start shaping it tomorrow.
posted by Lenore Wilson @ 12:50 AM
2 Comments:
Beautifully written!! I know it is such a heart-felt account, that must have brought forth so many emotions as you wrote it! I share your happiness and your disappointment! I would have loved for Uncle Jack to see Obama win, to see the tide turn in America after so many years of disservice to African-Americans. I know that the racial divide has not ended, but it was beautiful to watch white and black people embracing last night after they listened to Obama's words, to see the look on the faces of the young people who had worked so hard in support of Obama, and they watched him deliver his victory speech, as they realized the importance of the role that they had played! You are right, he laid many stones along the road, paving the way for those who came down the road. When you look back on a life, well-lived, you grieve it's loss, because you know but for the crippling diseases, he would still have been contributing and working to make our country its best. And yet, laying the grief aside, we know that his life meant so much to so many!! There is much peace in that knowledge.
I was right there with you, tears running down my face, unable to leave the room for a minute as I watched history being made. Like you, I'm glad that the next generation can live in what I believe can be a much more tolerant world!! I do have "hope"!
That was your best post ever. An a great credit to your Dad.
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