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*Be sure to vote today. It should go without saying, but I’m still saying it anyway.
Vote today.
Each and every fireman’s hose, attack dog, lynch mob, Baptist church bombing, civil rights assassination and segregationist Jim Crow ploy to thwart Black voters are each symbolically standing in the doorway of history. They are looking upon this day as the sum of all their fears.
Prove them right. Prove that their fear is well-founded. Let not the sacrifices of those who came before us be in vain.
My vote today is in remembrance of Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, Viola Liuzzo, Rosa Parks, Ida B. Wells, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Justice Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Chaney, Goodman & Schwerner, Frederick Douglass and the thousands of others no longer here to participate in this moment.
My vote today will be in remembrance of them. All of them.
My vote today is in recognition of Rev. C.T. Vivian, Joseph Lowery, Clarence B. Jones, Jesse Jackson, L. Douglas Wilder, Andrew Young, and the thousands still with us who all have played equal, yet sometimes less celebrated roles…but still inextricably linked to this propitious moment.
My vote today will be in recognition of them. All of them.
But most importantly, my vote will be in rejoicement of the wonderful possibilities both present and future, this historic candidacy of Barack Obama represents…win or lose. “Yesterday” is inextricably linked to “today” and “tomorrow.”
There is no “Venus and Serena,” without “Althea and Arthur.” There is no Tiger Woods without Lee Elder and Calvin Peete. No Deval Patrick without L. Douglas Wilder. And there is no Barack without Shirley and Jesse.
My Lord. My Lord. Never before have our yesterdays, todays and tomorrows all together in one singular moment.
Don’t miss this moment.
Our history as a people in this nation has been a succession of steps leading inexorably to this moment in which hopefully…maybe…finally, we realize our privilege and standing in this world. Senator Obama’s candidacy doesn’t “change” the world for us, but inarguably changes how the world must view “us”…and I don’t mean “us” as Americans.
In closing, I’ll leave everyone with the words of former Louisiana Congressman Cleo Fields, who said it best…
"Rosa Parks sat down so the rest of us could stand up.
We stood up so Dr. King could march.
Dr. King marched so Jesse could run.
Jesse ran so Obama could WIN!"
Now go cast your vote and remember you’re not just voting for yourself, you’re also voting for everyone who died in the process of securing that right. If you won’t vote your conscience, vote theirs. Vote to laugh squarely in the face of every piece of Jim Crow garbage thrown our way the previous twelve months specifically and 400 years generally. And most importantly, vote knowing that for the first time in history that we as African-Americans have the opportunity to repay the debt of all those who came before us. It’s the very least we can do.
Vote today. (And party tomorrow).
The Mo'Kelly Report is a syndicated entertainment journal with a political slant. It is to meant to incite meaningful discourse as well as entertain. For more of Mr. Mo'Kelly, please visit http://www.mokellyreport.blogspot.com. Morris W. O'Kelly can be reached at mokellyreport@sbcglobal.net and he welcomes all commentary.