Happy Belated Inauguration Day

Let's be completely honest! Everyone was more concerned with the dealings and happenings of the inauguration more than anything else. If this is not the case, then I am speaking for myself. Whenever I was NOT in class, I was watching the inauguration ceremony repeatedly, or the parade.

I loved Obama's speech, and how he eloquently put that we as Americans need to stop with the excuses, get up and do something. But one thing that I enjoyed the most, was the benediction that was delivered by Reverend Joseph Lowery. Not only was it concise and thought provoking, but it broke down America in its true light. Below is a link of the text that he delivered.

http://news.aol.com/article/text-of-rev-lowerys-inauguration/312463?icid=sphere_newsaol_inpage


The part that most people focused on, and considered to be a bit controversial was...

"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."

I watched the inauguration with my Race and Ethnic Relations class and other students who were in the dug out, and when he spoke those words, I saw smiles, frowns, and everything in between. Now in my opinion, these are exactly the kind of words that America needs. It is a way to let people know that we are still living and being governed by a system of racial inequality and injustice. However, speaking with a classmate of mines, she felt as if his comments were unnecessary and biased. She stated that not all white people are racists and for him to accuse whites of always being right was unfair and inaccurate. I can understand her frustration, she felt as if her race was being attacked. I gave her my opinion, I simply stated that the reverend was not attacking white people, he was just setting aside racial stigmas. The fact that whites are always right (a phrase which she had never heard before), and how blacks were always at the bottom trying to find ways to better themselves in a system that constantly put them down. After talking everything over, she began to understand what I was saying and left the conversation not as upset as she was when she initially entered it.

The sheer fact that we as Americans can get two totally different interpretations from the reverend's speech means, that we as Americans need to do a better job in understanding one another versus judging....