The Inauguration Watch Celebration

           What do you do for breakfast?  Some people ready themselves to see the first African American sworn in for his second term of President of the United States. It was a wonderful event. The invocation and prayer was given by Rev. Derrick Monk, pastor of the Divine Covenant Outreach Center. The event was the final part of the AFL CIO Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance. It took place at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event occurred from 10’oclock in the morning until 1 o’clock in the afternoon January 21, 2013. They served a wonderful buffet. It consisted of scrambled eggs bacon, sausages, steak, and salmon. In addition there was fresh fruit, melons, strawberries and orange and grapefruit juice.  Pastries, cereal and bagels with cream cheese were served for those who preferred a lower cholesterol diet. Coffee and tea were available in decaf or regular. For those who felt they could stand it at the noon hour drinks were also served.  Many of the union people wore blue with ‘We are one’ buttons on them.

The room was well decorated and had two large flat screen closed circuit televisions . Each placed in the front corner of the room so that people could watch the inauguration of President Obama in comfort. I suppose people had learned a lesson from the previous inauguration. The mall in front of the U.S. Capitol is incapable of holding the entire U.S. population of over 300 million people.

At the appropriate hour all eyes were glued to the television as the trumpet sounded the beginning of the procession. The President and Vice president sounded by security men and military attaché. The U.S. Army in appropriate place a reminder of the days long ago when they alone were entrusted with providing the personal security for the U.S. President. Now thousands of police; U.S. Marshalls; U.S. Secret Service all work together to form a phalanx of protection to prevent the nightmare that occurred with Presidents Lincoln; Garfield; McKinley; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Harry Truman; John Fitzgerald Kennedy ;Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan .

Then the first speaker appeared on the television. It was Myrlie Evers –Williams; the wife of the slain NAACP state President and civil rights activist Medgar Evers. She spoke of  the need for racial equality and diversity and dignity. She did not have too she has been the embodiment of the struggle through her life and her work in the NAACP.

Sen. Lamar Alexander was next though his party has shown little regard for the downtrodden and the oppressed there was an element of hope for reconciliation unity and justice in his speech. There is hope that in the days ahead both Republican and Democrat can come to the realization of helping the interests of the average U.S. citizen and those who are more unfortunate.

The Vice President took his oath. We remember that there is a sense of decency in a man who is known for his lack of sophistication and his foul language. It took his standing up in the Vice Presidential debates to give those in Organizing for America the courage to continue the fight against Romney and the Republican right.

The President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, took his oath; as people expected on two bibles Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s and President Abraham Lincoln’s. “No union founded on the principals of equality can be born half slave, half free.” He went on and stated we must protect the vulnerable. There are two great statements that should be remembered. “We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

 

 

Finally the poet, Mr.  Blanco summed it up. “One sun rose on us today…”