"LET FREEDOM RING"

A Diary Excerpt,
Tuesday, January 20, 2009

by Wilmot Max Ramsay


     It is Tuesday, January 20, 2009 which marked the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States.  Some two million people descended upon Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, to witness the event while millions more, via electronic media, watched and/or listened in almost total reverence.

     The new First Lady Michelle Obama looked radiant as were the young Obama daughters -- Sasha and Malia -- aged 7 and 10.

     Personally, I decided to remain in 'Cantabrigia', (Cambridge), Massachusetts, where I watched the history making inaugural day's events scrolled from the television screen.  CBS did a fine job in providing all-day coverage as has been its track record for pomp, pageantry and circumstance.  Of course, the other media did their part to serenade President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama and children.

     I can closer identify with Obama's dream because he is a year older than I am; we have bi-racial family trees; we both are left-handed; but above all now being 46 years old and only 18 years old when elected to public office in my native country, Jamaica, I do have a sense for role modeling and President Obama has inspired persons of all groups.  Furthermore, I want to believe that I know the feeling and this emotional inauguration albeit for also other reasons.

     From the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, who terminated forced slavery in 1865 with the end of the Civil War; down to the 1960s and President John F. Kennedy's administration and the Civil Rights Movement give a time-line of major progress made for the advancement of race relations in America.  Academically, there were Jim Crow more nationally and the Honors Program War at the University of Massachusetts at Boston in 1990.  The latter War, which left me to nurse Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) dealt with a foreign subject, at the time, yours truly, being the scapegoat of blatant racism.  I was able to deal with areas connected with the case through my autobiographical writings "Odyssey: A Jamaican American Saga." (2005).

     Aretha Franklin, "the Queen of Soul," sang: "Let Freedom Ring."  President Barack H. Obama today spoke of "gathering clouds" saying that "the challenges are severe but they will be met."  It is like a Declaration of Independence: happiness.  There will also be place for the 'obscure.'  It was Martin Luther King, Jr. who said: "Everybody can be great because everybody can serve."

     And, to my Jamaican friends for their supply of cocktails, I thank you for your kind offer which made the historic event truly memorable and connected the Obama inauguration with the place of my birth making the affair truly Jamaican American.  I must say that the champagne went well with the cuisine.

(Copyright @ HERITAGE RESERVES, Tuesday, January 20, 2009)