Let’s All Celebrate Mr. Obama’s Historic Inauguration

All Americans can celebrate and take pride in the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama and Joseph R.Biden on January 20, 2009, but Mr. Obama’s honeymoon with the American public ends January 20th and the real difficult complex work of making the marriage a success begins on January 21, 2009. This means all Americans must roll up their sleeves and stay politically active to insure that this ever evolving experiment in participatory Democratic governance becomes a reality for each citizen in the United States of America. My good friends, the same problems that existed on November 3, 2008 were also prevalent on November 5, 2008 and some have been exacerbated such as the pernicious financial crisis and the on-going conflict between the State of Israel and various Palestinian factions (Hamas) plus a multitude of domestic, international and global problems. We are involved in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. North Korea has stepped up its efforts to build plutonium nuclear bombs. And our southern border still has overt security problems. It has been reported that 45 million Americans are without health care and 37 million Americans remain in a sweltering sea of poverty with no end in sight, while pervasive bigotry, prejuduce are alive and well and the fundamental structures in the systems of racism are continually flourishing. Indeed Barack Obama's election to the Oval Office signals tremendous progress has been made, but more concerted efforts by all Americans are needed to eradicate all the vestiges of racism, sexism, classism and the gross socio-economic inequality among various classes. Therefore, this experiment in Democratic governing only works best with an active educated citizenry who are engaged in all aspects of the functioning of our government. For the last eight years, we the people (Congress) permitted the reckless, cantankerous Bush Administration to hijack our government because we were asleep at the wheel and preoccupied with maintaining our decadent, Epicurean lifestlye coupled with apathy. This means citizens need to become engaged by writing letters expressing their opinions on the issues, sending e-mails on their positions, requesting meetings with elected and appointed officials on their concerns, evaluating, monitoring and issuing quarterly report cards on the effectiveness and performance of all of our elected officials at all levels of government. We must hold all elected and appointed politicians, corporate CEO’s accountable and demand excellence in all the institutions of this society. No politician or corporate CEO should be given carte blanche or a free pass to run roughshod or afoul over the people’s interest. Furthermore, President Obama is encouraging people to hold him accountable based upon his/administration’s performance.
It is very unfortunate that the vast majority of my generation was standing on the sidelines, acting as silent bystanders when important history was being made by not participating in one of the greatest periods of our young Republic in such movements as the modern day Civil Rights Movement, the Black Liberation Movement, the Anti-War Movement, the Farm Protest Movement and the Women's Movement. All of the previously named movements still need to be reenergized and invigorated with new blood, immediate attention and with persistent action plans in order to make our union more perfect as we move forward in the first half of the 21st century. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 44 and also older adults can ill afford not to be involved in actively participating in the working of our treasured democracy. Our young people’s vote was pivotal in propelling Mr. Obama into the White House, and now they are charged with the responsibility of remaining actively involved on some level in making America that beacon on the hill that is often talked about by many great Americans. I urge all young people and young adults to accept their charge and responsibility to make their own history which should not be continually labeled and packaged by the media and educators as Black History, White History, Asian History, Native American History, Hispanic History, Female History, Ethnic History but solely American History.
Parents should at all costs provide their offspring with all the tools and resources that are necessary for the success of their child/student to achieve in all learning environments from "zero to 3" through graduation from a technical or other institution of higher learning. Parents have to demand excellence from their children, teachers, administrators, counselors, local school boards, insitutions of higher learning, state and federal departments of education and hold them accountable. We as a society, which includes the church, have to do a better job of making sure we are producing individuals with good, sound, wholesome parenting skills.
Each citizen of this great country, be it a corporate CEO, judge, doctor, lawyer, school teacher, college professor, student, minister of the gospel, rabbi, engineer, athlete, service employee, person working in the finance industry, realtor, policeman, farm worker, business owner/shopkeeper, construction worker, computer programmer/analyst, media personnel, journalist, skilled tradesman, factory worker, etc. should be involved in giving back to their communities in a positive way. No one from any occupation can be exempt from being involved in their respective communities. I would like to see more of the public involved in service projects, volunteering, mentoring, tutoring, adopting foster children and in those activities and programs in which they have a keen interest and awareness. The magnitude and proportionality of our problems are far greater in 2009 than those encountered in 1969 (40 years).
To my fellow Americans who say they cannot become involved in any political or progressive social action projects because of their employers' alleged prohibition on political activities, you are just using your employer as an excuse for your own apathy, complacency, irresponsible and cowardly behavior. You folks who choose not to be involved in any political or social justice issues, are all about maintenance of the status quo and self and therefore you will use any devious reason as a cover to compensate for your lack and level of consciousness. Those of you who are sitting back waiting on others to seize the time, licking your chops waiting for the opportunity to capitalize on the moment based upon the fruit of others’ hard and enduring labor, should be called to task. Some individuals may appear to have a valid exemption for not participating in political or social justice activities due to an employer’s political prohibition or ban based upon the nature of their work such as in national defense or defense related work. Some of these individuals working in defense related industries may have a CIA Badge and Poly, Krypto clearance, Top Secret and Secret clearance and would in fact be banned from most political activities. But most of the other employer non-defense related prohibitions on employee political involvement can be legally challenged in a court of proper jurisdiction. Where in the U.S. constitution does it say employees working in certain fields may be banned for political activities? This appears to be a blatant violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Rosa Parks stood up and took a chance and risked her life so that all Americans could be the beneficiaries of her courageous action, which culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court outlawing segregated seating on buses in Montgomery, Alabama and throughout the United States of America. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. paid the ultimate price for freedom (death) so that all may be the recipients of full first class citizenship. Two Black students from South Carolina State College, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton, and one high school student, Henry Smith, from Orangeburg, South Carolina, were brutally murdered on February 8, 1968 and 27 others were injured when they were exercising their rights as citizens in attempting to integrate a bowling alley which refused them service. Their slayings are known as the Orangeburg Massacre. Marking the 41st anniversary of the slayings, the public is invited to attend a special commemoration service on the campus of South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina on February 8, 2009 to pay tribute to these brave and fearless students. And what about the courageous actions of Allison Krause, Jeffrey Glen Miller, Sandra Lee Scheuer and William Knox Schroeder, the four students from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio who on May 4, 1970, were slaughtered in cold blood by the Ohio National Guardsmen? Additionally, nine students wer injured in this brutal assault by the Ohio National Guardsmen. Then there was Viola Liuzzo, the White mother from Detroit, who was slain on a back road in the Heart of Dixie in Lowndes County, Alabama on March 25, 1965 for assisting Blacks in exercising their constitutional right to vote.
There are millions of others who gave up their lives in the struggle for freedom to make our country a true egalitarian Democracy. If some of my fellow Americans are not desirous of getting involved on some level in the operative functions of our government, I say “shame on you”. With the American people working in concert with the Obama/Biden team, we can begin to repair, heal, solve problems, prevent problems from occurring and strengthen this hemorrhaging republic in order to be a leading example in the entire world.
El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) said: "If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything". Are you ready to stand up and take charge of your own destiny and forge a new covenant with all the people in the United States to live in peace, harmony and prosperity?