DR. KING IN CLEVELAND,
LEFT IN 1964 CAMPAIGNING FORPRESIDENT LYDON B. JOHNSON,
RIGHT IN 1967 CAMPAIGNING FOR CARL B. STOKES
On this 19th day of January, the eve of President-Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, I’m watching CNN which is broadcasting Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.”
Many of you might know, or if you’re new if you might not, that I signed up for then Sen. Obama’s campaign two weeks after her announced that he was going to run for President. At the time, many thought that the Senator would never have a chance to win, that Sen. Hillary Clinton almost was guaranteed the seat. Later in the campaign, Saturday Night Live, which has always been one of my favorite shows, had a Halloween episode where the
Clinton’s hosted a party, and all of then Sen. Clinton’s rivals for the White House were courting her. Then someone came in a Barack Obama mask, which in the end turned out to be the Senator himself.
For those that worked on the campaign from the beginning, we were driven by a sense of wanting to be a part of history. Leading up to this historic moment I was able to study that history for work. I was selected as a research assistant for an exhibit titled, “From Projects to Politics, Louis and Carl Stokes, www.stokescleveland.org.
THE STOKES BROTHERS, LEFT CARL, RIGHT LOUIS
Carl and Louis Stokes have always been hero’s of mine. Studying history in high school and later in college I always tried to pick writing assignments that would relate to the things in my life. John D. Rockefeller, Martin Luther, Joe Dimagio, the Beatles, John Belushi, the Finnish-Soviet Union Winter War, Civil War correspondence between soldiers and the women in their lives, various papers on the Civil Rights movement, and a paper on the Cleveland Desegregation Busing Policy were some of the topics I’ve wrote about in school. In this work, I was able to learn about the 50th mayor of the City of Cleveland, Carl Stokes.
Reading Promises of Power, Carl’s autobiography, opened my eyes to periods of Cleveland history that I only knew from articles in the Plain Dealer, Cleveland Magazine, or Mark Winegardner Crooked River Burning. If you want to know the history of African Americans fighting for political equality, the Stokes brothers’ story is one to read. What President-Elect Obama faced in the 2007-2008 campaign, Carl and Louis lived through forty years earlier.
Along with the research about their lives, I tried to understand the times that shaped the brothers political philosophy. I’ve always studied the Civil Rights movement, it has always been one of my favorite periods of history, I always wished that I could have been alive in the 1960s to help. I knew from an early age that I would fight for equality for all peoples of the world, mainly shaped by the actions of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King, the abolitionist movement of the Civil War, and the works of the SDS, SNCC, SCLC. In order to best understand this period I read biographies on President Johnson and an interesting book, Judgment Days, by Nick Kotz. These books helped further my understanding of what it means to be civic minded, to put others before you, and to fight for a better world.
One of the phrases that I heard repeated in these stories was the, “Fierce Urgency of Now,” grasping history, taking action, not being a bystander; to not lot history pass you by. On the campaign trail, this was a message I heard repeated once the March Ohio primary season started. From Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose family has given so much to the country they loved, to Cuyahoga County Commission Tim Hagen, whom I’ve listened to on the radio many times, said not to let history pass us by. Dino Martino, Ohio coordinator during the Ohio primary repeated this message, do not let history pass you by and say to yourself what could you have done more. Congressman Coyers from Detroit again passed the same message along, don’t get upset come November 5th, if a Republican would still be in office and you did nothing but attend speeches.
I phone banked in Clevealnd, talking to Democrats from southern Ohio, telling them my story. I talked to people in bars around Cleveland, who saw my Obama button on my coat and asked why I was voting for Obama. Going home to Lake Country and participating in intelligent dialogue with family members who are life long Republicans. I used the lessons I learned from these individuals, non-violent, respectful, trying to also listen to Paul Begala and James Carville, a way to take it back.
I was fired up, and ready to go, after Ohio went for Sen. Clinton, I asked what had I done? I donated money, raised money in a small fund raiser with family and friends, but I felt I let history pass me by.
A couple of days after the Ohio primary I received a call from the Erie, PA campaign office asking for help. I knew that I hadn’t understood the fierce urgency of now, and rolled up my sleeves and hit the streets. I was teamed up with seven of the coolest, most intelligent people that I’ve met in my life. These individuals understood the message and the call for acting now. Either it being for the future of their children, either bettering the child’s education, or trying to make sure that when their sons and daughters came of age, we wouldn’t have a mandatory draft fixing the mistakes in the Iraq War. The stories I heard, the people I met inspired me, and are memories I will have for the rest of my life.
Thank you for reading this and letting me share with you my part, in this historic movement, of people coming together across lines of race, gender, sexuality, and political philosophy.
The celebration party at the Euclid Tavern the night of the election, was only a taste.
Tomorrow when the words "I, Barack Hussein Obama,
do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." I’ll know what I did to make sure this historic moment could occur, and know that I didn’t let history pass me by.
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