Mr. President, I'll admit I didn't watch The State of the Union. It wasn't the message but it was all the "stuff" in the background that made me not want to watch. Surfing through my email messages, however, I saw this video on Youtube.com. It was more my speed. A conversation not a speech among the curious, honest, and insightful about legitimate concerns, without all the judgments and biases that have become the "stuff" associated with politics.
Of all the questions and answers, the most powerful one was what will your legacy be? As you pondered what you wanted to accomplish, you said that you'd probably not know that until the end of your term. I, a citizen that you may never ever know or meet, wish to share what your legacy will be--at least for me.
You have changed the face of politics. That's a fact! Not just the color of your skin though some have argued that you are too Black while others have deemed you not Black enough. You have blended renaissance and futurism like no President before you. You speak the language of both the old, while prophesying about the new: a past, present and future that no government has ever experienced. You are the first president of color to lead the free world! That has brought with it a unique experience unlike those before you.
Parties have fought to keep their traditions and their power despite the shift in the minds of Americans that led to your election. An America where no one race, no one creed, no one color can dominate at the expense of others. Regardless to whether we elect a Democrat or Republican or Tea Party candidate or Independent in the future, a habit has been broken. A line has been drawn in the sand. It's a new America. An America that requires that we come back to what politics is really about. This, you defined so simply yet brilliantly as people coming together to decide how they are going to live together. How simple is that! You pointed out that we make political decisions every day. Going to a movie with a group of our peers was an example of that. No one person or interest decides. It takes consideration and compromise. All have to feel their voices are heard though all concede to the majority vote. If they don't, you may have won the movie, but lost the comradery in the process.
Like you, I see a new politics emerging. One where our children have decided they don't want to be like us. They don't want to be ruled by judgments that segregate. They are coming out as they are, choosing rather to be honest than to be a hypocrite. They have a new experience of life and cannot act as if they haven't. They, reminiscent of their Creator, see hypocrisy and call it what it is despite people in authority who would beg to differ or to reframe or to ignore their truth.
Yours Mr. President will be a legacy that spearheaded a revolution. One that is not fooled by the North winning the civil war or any Emancipation Proclamations or Fifth Amendments. One that is not fooled by Martin Luther King Day being a federal holiday as proof that we have overcome and that all men are regarded as equals. It is one prompted by the resurgence of hate that is so vile that people all over the spectrum of our nation and other nations shudder at it. It is proof that what you ignore grows. It is so grotesque that it requires that we do something about it.
No longer can we afford to mask it with references to skin color when the real culprit is--institutionalized fear. Despite our criticism of the other, all of us share responsibility in the preponderance of fear ravaging our world. Fear is what is killing the innocent. Fearing what we should regard as valuable. It's a revolution where Black Lives Matter. It's a revolution where Police Lives Matter. It's a revolution where All Lives Matter!
We point to our country being founded on Christian principles when nothing is further from the truth. If we look in the back yard of our founding fathers, there is nothing Christian about it. It's just as messy as anyone else's. Our history is messy, Mr. President. It was founded on one group taking advantage of another. We have perpetually taken what doesn't belong to us and tell ourselves that the end justifies the means. We quote scriptures to justify it. We quote the Constitution to justify it. We quote our favored religious books and practices to justify it. Still, none of it covers our shame. We try to make intelligent argument and try to act as if we are coming from either a higher consciousness or keeping it real. It doesn't change it. Fear is fear. From the pulpit to the Pentagon, fear is fear. From our poverty-ridden history to our moving-on-up to new neighborhoods, fear is fear.
Mr. President, some say the opposite of fear is love. Maybe that's true. I would argue the opposite of fear is choice. When we understand our power to choose, we no longer blame anyone for our status in life. Nelson Mandela is proof of this. Oppressors thought that throwing him and others into prison would convolute their message of freedom. Though he endured atrocities to his person on a daily basis, he experienced an awakening to just how powerful he was. For when offered the chance to leave, he made a choice not to leave without his brothers. Today, we can all make a different choice. We can be better than hate. We can be better than oppression. We can choose to allow our circumstances to determine our depth, our breadth, our height or we can marry our bigger truth with our choice and, like the caterpillar, come out transformed and liberated.
I myself know the power of choice, Mr. President. After 33 years of socialized and internalized criticism of myself and others, I came across a book laying on my sister's bed. Captivated by its title, I rushed to pick it up and thumbed excitedly through the pages. One word ignited my revolution. That word was choice. Matter of fact, the title of the book was Love Is A Choice. Likewise, the word that ignited this country's revolution came from God's heart through your lips. That word was change. And though the fury of the battle has escalated and many lives have been lost, it is still the word that the Universe is conspiring to bring about. Our world will never be the same. And years from now, when the smoke has cleared, our children and children's children will thank you for it.
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