King

January 19th, 2009

I’m writing this to you, little one, on the evening before Barack Hussain Obama II is sworn in as the President of The United States Of America.  Your mother and I spent the bulk of our twenties mired in a country that has been run by a group of men and women who stole their powers from it’s great citizens.  We are hopeful.   We are hopeful that the world you will grow up in will be moving forward.  Hopeful that you will know racism only in the abstract, as a footnote in one of your history books.  Hopeful that you will not fear the air you breathe, the water you drink.  We can only hope, little one, because presuming at this point would be folly.  We know that the reality may be quite different from our hopes for you.  But we also know that the history that will begin to be written tomorrow will be created by highly intelligent people who are standing on the shoulders of giants.  And that is what feeds our hope.

Today is a celebration of one of our nations greatest leaders.  He was not an elected official in the usual sense.  He was merely a very bright young man who found himself unable to witness the horrors he saw around him, everyday.  The people in his community sensed in him a great power, one that could change history.  He rose to a staggering challenge in the face of grave danger to his family and his self.  He changed America, and he changed the world.  He died a hero to millions of people, silenced by a coward who didn’t want the world to change.  He did not work alone, but today we recognize him as a symbol of all who helped.   The world that you grow up in will be forever touched by the work he did while he was alive, and the work of countless others inspired long after his death.

As you grow up and begin to really know me, you will know that I am a man rarely moved to tears.  And yet on this day, with thoughts of your life in my heart, I cannot help but weep with joy for the world you will inherit and influence.  And I sob with sorrow at those mighty Americans who gave everything they ever had to make sure that world will be better than it was when they left us. All of the progress we have made will be entrusted to you, little one; and you will have an obligation to continue the work.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem. 

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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