Saturday, January 24, 2009

LeRoy King's Words on Tuesday's Historical Event


Our friend, brother in Christ, father, husband, leader at The Gathering and MC3 recently wrote this words on his Facebook page. They are inspiring. They are moving. I'm so looking forward to sharing the journey with LeRoy, with others as we walk together into a better American... a more hopeful Monroe Circle.

Read and enjoy.



My Inauguration by LeRoy King.

Its approximately 12:04PM with camera set in its appropriate place... click!.., I also grabbed my black leather bond bible and laid it respectfully on my lap. As he approached his place in history, I placed my left hand on the bible with my right hand raised. It..., history..., a new day’s dawn..., any minute now... click!.., anticipating..., here WE go..., “I... solemnly swear...” or more appropriately, “We... solemnly swear...” Yes, this is as much my inaugural as it is President Barak H. Obama’s inaugural.

Let me explain...click!

When Africans were snatched from their native land and country, families divided and sold on auction blocks, women raped, and men whipped to near death, it happened to we, to us. Shortly after the “emancipation proclamation,” the establishment of “Jim Crow Laws” institutionalized racism and created a system that was design to keep the Negro in his place through fear and intimidation... “separate, but” never “equal.” These atrocities were done to we, to us. When the parents of my white friends would not allow their children to play with me because I am black, this too was done to we, to us. “Play your fiddle, dance a jig, make us laugh... run fast... jump high like the gazelle”... you say. But lead...? But think...? But discover...? Not in your DNA... so we, so us been told. Ode to the injustice done to we, to us. When a gang of white boys would, with venom, SCREAMED!... that one word that causes... we, us... to cringe . You know the word I speak of... This word cuts so deep, deep,... here it comes... like many times before and many times since... “NIGGER!” Maybe the blow to my essence would be minimized if you begin that word by saying “MY” in front of...? Or maybe by replacing “...ER” with “A” followed by “please...” it wouldn’t hurt so bad... to we. to us? ...still it hurts, still so deep. Walking my sister home from school... harassed, kicked, and called names, not true... not me... not us. Why?... Racism happened for no other reason than this, I am black, in a community of Black, Colored, Negro, African American... we, us... click!

News flashed across the TV screen, images of dogs attacking we, us, white police officers with club in hand beating, we, us. Why? So that... we, us... can vote? Church bombed, little girls... we, us... somebody’s daughter, sister, and friend... died... groan. Young black men, black boys lynched... shhh... whispered... not talked about but heard about... we, about... us.

Fear... uncertainty... inadequate I feel... I am... informing my, we, us psyche... re-writing my, we, us very soul.

Dreams? Difficult to... almost impossible to... But, dream... we, us... did. Dreams, too dangerous to entertain... some were, are killed for this very act of insurrection. Yes, dream... we, us... did, still. Martin Luther King, was not the architect of The Dream... Dr. King gave voice to the dream already formed, already embraced, already... From the time the first slave ships left the harbors of West Africa... already... the dream... hid in we, in us... in the face of horror..., victories along the way..., to we, to us. Yes, dreams... possible... expected... because I am black, in a community of Black, Colored, Negro, African American... we, us.

Some have suggested, “let this inaugural of the 44th President be not about race.” I...we, us... respond by saying, “Too late.” Race was placed on the table by others over 400 years ago when the first slave ships docked, when black men, the victims of greed and of power hungry men, were legally declared to be three-fifths of a man. It is too late to remove race issues from the table. Yes, the Economy. Yes, Health Care, Yes, National Security. Yes, Foreign Affairs. But let this too... be about race. For race not to be included would strip this monumental event of its historicity. It is only in the historical context of America’s race relationship, strained relationship, that makes this particular inauguration significant, indeed remarkable, that a Black Man... White Man, oh the irony of it all, would be placed in the highest and most powerful office in the land by the people...

So allow me, we, us to sit here and simmer a bit...

Remembering...how we, how us... got here...simmer some more...

And then maybe, after a bit.., it will not need to be about race... no longer.

But for now... I will allow this inauguration..., Barak Obama’s inauguration..., my inauguration, de-constructing... re-constructing... create in me, we, us..., to replace the tears of struggle with the tears of joy, healing the wounds of rejection, recapturing the very essence of who I was meant to be... who I am, redeeming what was lost but now is found... Could it be that the world will come to see... we, us... dif-fer-ent-ly? And maybe I will see me...

And what about reparations?... I got mine... Thank you... we, us...AMERICANS... click!

1 comment:

Brad Stewart said...

WOW!!! Thanks so much for writing that. That was your heart....or was it God's heart manifested through yours? Unbelievably beautiful!!!!

p.s. You got a gift, man!!! Let Him use ya!!!!! :-) Kim