In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), one week following massive racial protests in Selma, Alabama that turned deadly with the violence of Southern Whites, stood before the U.S. Congress and the nation and delivered the historic Voting Rights Act address. It began with, "I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy" and ended with the mantra that had been the heartbeat, purpose and call to action for a movement started and powered by the poor and oppressed of America. In these three simple words, that were loaded in righteous indignation, bloated with pain and suffering, considered heretical by white supremacy, LBJ resounded the call of the oppressed in America with the boldness of historic Presidential leadership and the moral courage of a prophetic warrior. When LBJ ended his voting rights speech with "We Shall Overcome" all of America knew this movement mattered and eminent change was on the horizon.
President Barack Obama stands in a similar moment. Three simple words can be uttered and it would cause a cataclysmic shift in racial politics in America. The world would gasp in awe. The sun would rise on the sufferer. The lands would be healed and the dream that humanity laid forth would be realized when a Black man became President and saved the world. Perhaps, I sound a bit dramatic but reflect on the presidential journey of BO, running on 'Hope' in a world of despair, preaching 'Change' when the salvation of humanity laid in the balance. He became our MLK, our Madiba, our Malcolm while wielding the power of a Bush.
Nearly seven years later, reality has settled in, MLK represents more holiday than freedom, Madiba is gone and the clouds of inequality and injustice still hovers over black and brown people. POTUS has made historic achievements in healthcare, drug sentencing reform and promising initiatives to affect change in communities. However, we still find ourselves waiting on that moral moment when the leader of the Free and Not-so-free world visibly stands with the 'wretched of the earth' not above us but as one of us.
LBJ wasn't as smooth as BO at code-switching but when he resounded, "We Shall Overcome", Black folks didn't have to take out their secret negro-decrypta-code books to decipher what he meant. He frankly and unapologetically validated the mission of the movement. Selma has become Ferguson and BO stands in the same moment as LBJ in 1965. President Barack Obama can utter just three words that would shift the paradigm and become what we've always wanted him to reflect, support and defend. Yes, the movement needs policy and congressional bills to legally protect Black and Brown bodies. Yes, the movement needs the presidential reminder that these things take time and commitment, to stay the course and see it through. Yes, the movement needs a President-backed-super-anti-racist-DOJ squad to fight injustice. However, what is needed in this moment, right now, after more than three centuries of white supremacy, the ignominious treatment of black and brown bodies, that the provisional citizenship of blackness and the curse of Ham to finally find redemption through the voice and validation of the most powerful man in the world simply saying...
