THE 45 YEAR RACE

In my post collegiate football years living in the nation’s capital, I became a runner— okay, let me not fool myself, a jogger. Anyway, I began running around the Howard University area, only to be made to feel uneasy on 13th street by a trio of ogling, she-males, but I digress. A friend suggested I run on the National Mall. I did and fell in love with it. It was scenic and it was two miles in length (just good enough for my post jock era). Day after day, I took in the landscape, meaning the national monuments, The Washington Monument, The Capitol Building and The Lincoln Memorial. After running by these buildings for months on a daily basis I finally comprehended the magnitude of their meaning with the Capitol being where our legislative branch of the government operates and the president is sworn in. The Lincoln Memorial being where the Dr. King delivered his infamous “I Have A Dream” speech at the March on Washington. When I first got to Washington, I saw these buildings as well, just buildings, but I never “saw” them for their context and meaning in American history. They became even more clear today, as The Dream of a Georgia preacher that began a two mile race on the steps of The Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and finished it today on the Capitol’s steps vas a skinny black kid named Barack Obama was inaugurated as America’s first black president. Sure it took 45 years to run two miles, but sometimes life isn’t about finishing, it’s about finishing the race. So on this historic day, I marvel at a race that began with the four words, “I Have A Dream” and ended with four, “I, Barack Hussein Obama…”

Now Follow Me! Follow Me to Freedom!