Looking Over the Mountaintop

“I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!” – 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr.

King’s “Mountaintop” speech was prophetic on many levels. It was his last speech and he seemed eerily aware of his own impending assassination the following day. It was also a prophecy for the future of America. Somehow King clearly saw our future and knew this day would come. I have great pride as an American that is has. I wish that Martin Luther King was here to see it but perhaps he really did see it all those years ago.

Millions of Americans woke up Wednesday morning to a new country – one where skin color no longer mattered to the majority. Colin Powell cried. A three star general. Yes, it was that important. Every person of color, not just in America, but around the world can lift their head a little higher and be a little more self confident knowing that Barack Obama has blazed a trail for them that 40 years ago would have been unthinkable.

Of course, this presidential race was about more than skin color, it was about “content of character” as King hoped one day it would be. But there is still much work ahead. The struggle is not over. As John F. Kennedy once said, “All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”

God, I’m happy to be alive at this moment in history.