African Americans Exult in Historic Leap

[babylonsister]

African Americans Exult in Historic Leap
Many See Deep Symbolism in Obama's Nomination Acceptance on 'I Have a Dream' Anniversary

By Tim Craig and Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 25, 2008; Page A22



For Deborah Ross of Greenbelt, the sight of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama standing on stage this week to accept the Democratic nomination for president is something she knows her daughter, Miranda, has to experience even though it means she will miss her first week of her senior year at Eleanor Roosevelt High School.

Although she is not a party delegate, Ross, 48, is in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, and Miranda is with her. "This is history," said Ross, an African American who was an early Obama supporter. "It is something that I knew I had to see and I wanted her to see. It is something she will never forget and something that she will be able to share with her children."

Eight years into a new millennium and nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the nation is poised to make a historic leap with its first African American at the top of a major political party's ticket.

In the often strange brew of U.S. race relations and presidential politics, that fact sometimes has seemed to slip to the background, but not for millions of African Americans who for months have been riding a roller coaster of pride and hope and worry about a potential black first family.

"I am just overwhelmed," said former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder, who became the nation's first elected black governor in 1990. "I don't think the American people have awakened to what's happening the next couple of months. The possibility of an African American president? Think about it. Look how short of a period it's been since we came from slavery."

The symbolism of the moment will be elevated because Obama will accept the nomination Thursday, the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/24/AR2008082401920.html

[sarge43]

1. I've always loved Barbara Jordan statement before the House Judiciary Committee

Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: "We, the people," It's a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that "We, the people." I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision, I have finally been included in "We, the people."

When Senator Obama accepts the nomination, it will an exultant moment for all of us who love the best this nation should be, can be and must be.

"We, the people ...."

[babylonsister]

2. You're very welcome by me,and thank you. I thought this was good. nt

[sarge43]

3. It is. Once and awhile the WaPo comes through.

I wish Jordan could have been here. She would have raised the hall three feet off the ground with her speech.