This Country is Yours
By Michael Oakes
On the occasion of the election of President Barack Hussein Obama.
My people did a great thing yesterday. We elected Barak Obama president. We overcame the usual and unusual smear and fear campaign. We overcame “he’s a Communist,” “a Muslim”, “an Arab”, a “terrorist”, “Naïve”, “Not a friend to America.”, even a strange and threatening name, and the majority of Americans embraced him as one of us. What appeals so much isn’t his race, but that he is the best and brightest. He is a uniter in his core, being of mixed heritage himself. He is being hailed as a Native son on three continents. From the largest Muslim country on earth in Asia, to the heart of long-suffering Africa, to the heartland of America. From Kansas to Kenya, ordinary people, poor people, working people, people of every color and religion, are celebrating a new dawn for the dream of democracy that is America. In the midst of despair and darkness, as our nation and our world gazes into an economic abyss of unknown depth and duration, as we are mired in murderous war, a beacon of light, a torch of freedom is ignited, that says, “We are in this together. We can do this together. We will build a better day.”
Then there is race. I weep today for the millions of souls kidnapped from Africa. This country is yours. Dragged in chains onto the infamous ships. Dying in despair and horror in the hellish holds. This country is yours. Worked and bred like livestock for generations, plowing our soil, building this nation under the whip. This country is yours. I think of the slave women, repeatedly raped by their owners, and anyone else who felt the urge, and was white. Bearing the children of their tormentors, birthing them into enslavement, by the millions. I hear your cries. They echo through the centuries. Let this jubilant chorus echo back to you…This country is yours, your children are free. I see Frederick Douglas, beaten, blinded, running for freedom. I see him scratching dignity out of the barren soil of slavery, and rising to speak profoundly for his people’s freedom. I see you knocking on the White House door, and a black man answers- you are denied entry by the butler, until Lincoln gives word. Knock again Frederick, a black man will answer at that august portal of power, and embrace you now. Another articulate, powerful leader with the force of right, who stands on your shoulders. This country is yours. I see Harriet Tubman, risking all to gain her freedom. Then with unfathomable courage, hazarding life and liberty a hundred times over to reach into the belly of the beast and snatch her fellow human beings into the light of freedom. This country is yours. To the Native, driven to the brink of extinction, robbed of a continent and a culture, impoverished and spurned. This country is yours again. To the women who struggled for suffrage and equality. To the immigrant who had to battle prejudice while striving to survive in a new land. To the Gay citizen, still fighting for equality. This country is yours; and you are next in the seats of Power. I hear you Martin, words flooding down like a mighty stream. Ripped from us so young. Having given so much. We as a people have reached the Promised Land. This country is yours. And President Obama, we are all your servants now. To support you. To protect you. To lead with you. To urge you always toward the good. You are black, and white, and Asian, and Christian, and Muslim, and Democrat, Independent and Republican- for you are America, and so are we. And this country is ours. Grant us grace to use it for the betterment of all mankind, and leave it healthy, thriving, and sustainable for all our children. For this country is theirs.
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