Campaigning as an unapologetic progressive, the Rev. Jesse Jackson reframed, renewed and refashioned US politics with a pair of campaigns for the Democratic presidential nominations of 1984 and 1988. Those campaigns broke new ground in American politics, showing that it was possible to leap lines of race, gender, sexuality and class to form coalitions that had not previously been imagined possible. Jackson’s presidential runs also brought hundreds of thousands of new voters–especially young and African American voters–onto the rolls. The legacy of those campaigns, and those coalitions, formed the basis for a new politics that helped elect Barack Obama America’s first black president. This video tells that story. As we celebrate our progress, it is vital to recall the campaigns that brought us to this place.
Today I cried, i cried not just for our past and our present but for my children and my children’s children knowing that they have the true opportunity to be whatever they what to be in this country. I cried because I understood a dream once thought of as only a fanatasy became reality. I understood the great significage of Barack Obama becoming the first African American President to lead the United States, a country based off of freedom and indepence that even to this day attempts to hinder a major portion of it’s population because of their skin color. I understood that people realize that the doors have been opened and things will never be the same again. I realized that some people are starting to understand the wrongs of the past, and maybe this wil help them step forward and step up to understand how to correct the future. I think that’s what brought tears to my eyes, realizing that people can change, the country has changed, we as people are changing. Thank You America for realizing change is needed. Congratulations Mr. President.
We must be proud of our country today, a day where we acknowledge a man who lived and died for universal freedom, love and hope. Hope for a country scarred by its past and still hunted by present demons but moving forward hopefully on a day to day basis. We must look at the importance of the work that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and others like him that helped futher the rights of all people, not just African Americans, but women, gays and others. Using his day as your day to pay forward Dr.King’s contributions to humanity by doing something for your community, or someone else’s, to help someone who could use it. We all can be better than we were yesterday. We shouldn’t limit our service to others just today, but make it part of our regular lives. If you could volunteer once a week or a month whatever you can; give blood, donate clothes, food, time or talent. Everyone has something that they can contribute and with the contribution you not only invest in a dream, but a future. Barack Obama is only the beginning.
