Oh, what a day! Obama's 2nd Inauguration and MLK Remembered

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"We will feel the presence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself, of the four little girls who died in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, of a Thurgood Marshall," Moss said. "Persons who have borne the burdens in the heat of the day and worked sacrificially for things to come, knowing that they would perhaps not live to see the fruit of their labors but nevertheless knew that this day would come."  Rev. Otis Moss, Jr.'s prayer for President Obama’s first inauguration (quoted NYT, Jan.2009).   Moss, pastor at the historic Olivet  Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio,  was a  friend of MLK and helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where MLK  delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, still moving to this day.  

Monday 21 January

President Barack Obama
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File, Huffington Post,  20 Jan. 2013.

This is truly an amazing juxtaposition: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day,  the 50^th anniversary year of the “I Have Dream” speech, and the 2^nd Inauguration of president Barack Obama.    

It seems fitting, on the same day, to commemorate the life of a Civil Rights icon who fought long and hard for equality, with thousands upon thousands of extraordinary and ordinary Americans;  to remember the famous and prescient speech he made at the March on Washington in 1963; and to celebrate the 2^nd inauguration of the first African-American U.S. president, and the theme "Visions for the Future."  

I can’t think of a better way to honor this day.  The past, present and future, all rolled into one, like E pluribus unum,  from many, one,  a powerful metaphor for upcoming generations, and for the history books.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm