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VERONICA'S VIEW: Memo to the President
Dear President Elect Obama:
*Your election is as historic as it is reparative. The confluence of events – past and present – that led to your election was mystical, magical and masterful. I believe that for every seen action there must have been countless unseen actions that guided the nation to this historic moment.
America has spoken. Your victory of 365 electoral votes was stunning. Over 66.8 million people cast their vote in favor of you being our leader and our Commander-in-Chief.
One of those American’s was Mother Rosa L. Broadous. And Mr. President Elect Obama, she is someone I want you to know.
After a rich and luminous life, she passed away on October 28, 2008 at the age of 89. But before she left this world she performed her final act of civic responsibility by casting her vote for you. Her hope was that you would be her president.
Mother Broadous was the matriarch of Calvary Baptist Church in Pacoima, California which she co-founded in 1955 with her husband Reverend Dr. Hilary T. Broadous. While her husband was the captain of the ship, she was the anchor. This dynamic duo developed this church into the preeminent African American Church in the San Fernando Valley. They developed the church on a platform of Christian doctrine and social justice which they believed were inextricably bound. And they impacted many lives, including mine.
During your presidential campaign, your opponent attempted to diminish your work as a community organizer. Well we know that community organizers are at the heart of social and political change. Mother Broadous was a community organizer. Her grassroots efforts are credited with helping to establish the San Fernando Valley branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) where served as the organization’s first Vice President. And it didn’t stop there Mr. Obama. Her work to improve the status of women included organizing a chapter of Church Women United and working with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
She had an unfeigned passion for education and literacy. So created the Calvary Baptist Literacy Council and the Rosa L. Broadous Children’s Academy so young and old could become empowered through learning.
And Mr. Obama, she was a coalition builder extraordinaire. Her faith in God caused her to reach across the pew and bring diverse religious communities together through her work with the Valley Interfaith Council.
These are just a few of her lifetime accomplishments, there are others too numerous to mention. However during her memorial service her life of sacrifice and service was personified through her family, elected officials, religious leaders and those who knew her from her community, education, civic, philanthropic and church involvement. She has left an indelible mark on so many lives.
“Mother Broadous was a community organizer who changed the San Fernando Valley and the world,” said Rabbi Steven Jacobs, Founder of the Progressive Faith Foundation. “She had great faith and discovered that organizing people brings about change.”
Change – she was at the helm of so much of it in the church and community I grew up in. And her work helped define and shape my values and commitment to service and social justice.
She is now one of our ancestors Mr. Obama, but her contributions aggregated with those who preceded her paved the way for us to be agents of change. And you are the sterling example of that change.
So Mr. President Elect Obama, when you stand before the world during your inauguration on January 20, 2009 you will be shouldering the weight of the future, but remember you are emboldened by the spirit of the past, spirits like Mother Rosa L. Broadous. May God bless you and may he bless the United States of America. (If you have comments about Veronica’s View, email them to vsview@yahoo.com.) ###
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