We Are One: America Reborn

Today is one of the most historic days in American history. Seven score and three years ago our fathers ended a great conflict, that really did not end until today. In watching the Inauguration concert held on Sunday in front of the Lincoln Memorial, across the Mall from the Washington Monument, I was quite inspired.

I couldn't help remembering some of the major events of my lifetime that have led us to this point. Starting with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in professional sports there has followed a litany of important occurrences.

Memories of Brown v. Board of Education, Rosa Parks refusal to sit in the back of the bus, James Meredith enrolling at the University of Mississippi, the assassination of Medger Evers (A bullet from the back of the bus...), the March on Washington which culminated with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's rousing "I have a Dream" speech, President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, the murder of 3 civil rights workers in Mississippi (reenacted in the film Mississippi Burning), the assassination of Malcolm X, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Supreme Court upholding busing as a means of furthering integration of schools, Congress overriding President Reagan's veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act, the senior President Bush signing the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and the conviction of Edgar Ray Killen of the murder of the 3 civil rights workers in Mississippi 41 years after the crime was committed flooded in. Today they culminate with the inauguration of President Barak Obama.

I now have faith in the ability of the next generation to run this country, for without their inexhaustible work I am not sure we would have gotten here. I am reminded of the hope we all had at this time in 1963. Little did we know the tough times that were ahead.

Now we know that we are facing hard times, but at least we can rest assured that, to paraphrase Mr. Dylan, the Times, They Have A-Changed.