One of the greatest speeches in American history…a demand for payment on the bounced check of freedom.

                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

Are there any of you out there old enough to remember the dark days from which this speech derives.? Do you remember scenes like the following on the nightly news? You will have to indulge my choice of music. Bob Dylan is my favorite folk singer                      

                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRBM--tCRcs

My earliest memory of the bigotry came in my college days. I went to school in the north in Pennsylvania. The girls had a curfew at 1:00 AM on the weekends. The girl’s dorms were jammed at that time with guys dropping their dates off. I remember saying good night to my date, and seeing a young interracial couple walk in. The girl was as Germanic as you could imagine…blond hair…blue eyes…light complexion. Her date was black. He kissed her good night. Suddenly I felt someone push past me. It was some kid with a southern accent. He grabbed the black kid by the arm, and said….”Boy, where I come from….they would kill you for something like that.” I had never experienced anything like that before. It was the late 60’s.

If you have ever seen the movie “Mississippi Burning” …it is based on the true story of the Klan’s murder of three civil rights workers. I was only in my early teens at the time, but I can remember sitting in my grandmother’s kitchen listening to the news coverage. In later years it gave me pause before embarking on my participation of the voter registry movement in the southern states to effectuate the 1967 Voting Rights Act. Notwithstanding my apprehension…Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” speech seemed to offset my apprehension, and I went forward with my participation.

I can recall a conversation I had with a very old man during the registry. He had to be in his eighties at the time. He looked ancient. However, I was in my early twenties , and anyone over thirty looked ancient. His father had been born a slave. I do not think he ever made it out of grade school, but it was fascinating to listen to him. He was living history. I remember him telling me that if “THEY” did not want you to vote ….you did not vote. Burning a cross on your front lawn was a mild warning. If “THEY” thought you were uppity, or did not know your place…you could wind up hanging from the limb of a tree in your yard. I was looking at the news last night, and a commentator indicated that as late as 1972 there were still problems with voting rights.

I remember news coverage of Dr. King’s march on Selma, Alabama. The local authorities did all in their power to crush the march. Finally, they were only successful in limiting the march through the use of parade permits to avoid traffic obstruction. There was a huge crowd at the entry point of the march, and another huge crowd at the end point. However, only a minimal number of people were able to walk the route. Klansmen were driving up and down the route with shot guns hanging out the windows of their cars.

It is indeed fitting and proper that the inauguration of our new president should follow this holiday. If there is a god…may he bless and keep our new president on the difficult road ahead.