The Struggle is NOT Over!

At this historic time in the history of this country and in the lives of Americans of black African descent, especially those of us who have been alive long enough to have experienced the sting of segregation and Jim Crow, and who have contributed, no matter how little, to the progress that has finally brought us to this day, it seems important to me that we all stop and reflect on the true significance of this moment.

I have been disillusioned with American politics for years. I started out as an advocate of the values of the Democratic Party and was one of its most active allies. I was very political when I was in college and, then, was considered somewhat of a political militant by some. I even considered politics, specifically the Democratic nominees, as our savior(s) from the distress of the social and economic principles this nation espoused, propagated, promoted, and protected which served to keep millions of its citizens oppressed. After watching and listening to what politics became, I was soon very disappointed.

Having spent more than 40 years working for people like Shirley Chisholm, Leonora B. Fulani, and Jesse Jackson, to name a few, in their presidential bids, the voices of those who believed that a woman or a candidate who was of black African descent could not in this lifetime become president of this country numbed me to the opinions of most Americans. I knew it could happen because there were so many of us who not only wanted it to happen but also were working to make it happen. Instead of hoping for it to happen, or denying the possibility that it could happen, many of us worked to make it happen, whether it happened in our lifetime or not. Now it has happened.

What concerns me now about the magnificent reality that a man whose father is black is the President of the United States of America is that we may take what has happened as an excuse to stop moving forward. The feeling of “having arrived” can be numbing, retardant, and destructive. The game is not over. The playing field may have been leveled a little but that usually serves only to make the struggle harder. Opponents gear up for a formidable opponent; opponents once deemed impotent usually find the fight harder when once they have the strength and the opportunity to stand and fight.

Contrary to the lyrics of a popular contemporary song, the struggle is not over. Recently, on one of my frequent visits to my doctor, he asked me if I were pleased with the new president. I told him that I was very pleased with what Americans had done but that I had to wait to see if I was pleased with the new president and with our people’s reaction to what we have done, particularly our people of color. Let us not ever forget who really orchestrated this phenomenal move from a community of freed slaves to having a representative of that community become the most powerful leader in the free world in just 150 years! Jesus is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. The real Savior still rules, still watches, and still bids us to move forward.