By Laura Goble
Laura Goble, director of the University of Portland's Moreau Center for Service and Leadership, was in Washington, D.C., this week to attend the inauguration of President Obama. En route home to Portland on Wednesday, she sent the following on her observations about the historic event.
Not long after last May's Civil Rights Plunge, even before I knew who would be standing on the steps of the Capitol, I purchased my ticket to Washington for the inauguration. Standing in Atlanta's King Center with several UP students last year, I was startled by the escape of a tear as we read a plaque describing "The Poor People's Campaign," Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision for the continued advancement of the Civil Rights Movement, a focus on economic justice, not just for African-Americans, but for all races and people whose work robbed them of dignity, especially fair compensation.
I traveled to Washington this week because, just as I found hope in King's vision last year, I have hope in our future.
As our new President said Tuesday, "Every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms."
On the flight to Washington, D.C., the majority of my fellow pilgrims were under the age of 35. Conversation hummed with intense affection for the President-elect, hopes for his first days in office, anticipation of a memorable speech. However, it wasn't just youth rocking out on Sunday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial to Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, U2, Usher, Shakira, Stevie Wonder, Garth Brooks, will i. am, Herbie Hancock, Sheryl Crow, John Legend, or James Taylor for the We Are One concert. Obama sang along to American Pie, as did every Millenial, Boomer and Buster within eyeshot. A sea of heads nodded in agreement at President Obama's charge to service and community engagement. Everyone laughed as Jaime Foxx delivered his lines with a notorious Obama impersonation. It felt like we WERE one with something even bigger than that shared moment.
On Tuesday, I spent the long Metro ride in from Falls Church, Va., chatting with Milos, a Hungarian immigrant now living in New Jersey. He had high hopes for what the Obama administration might do for public education. Exiting the train station, a long line waited patiently for an elderly African-American woman to labor her way up the steep escalator. Amidst the endless sellers of knick-knacks, buttons, and t-shirts, a man lay asleep under a light blanket. Someone had placed a pack of hand warmers and a sandwich beside him. People made way for a man and a woman trying to get through the thick crowd in their wheelchairs. As Pastor Rick Warren delivered the invocation, a few around me shouted "Hallelujah" with arms raised in agreement. A young woman behind me whispered "Yes, Lord," her head bowed. In a slight Indian accent, a middle-aged woman asked me which way to Pennsylvania Avenue, the hem of her sari peeking from the bottom of a long wool coat.
Senator Dianne Feinstein's reminder of the "supremacy of the ballot over the bullet" properly invoked our faith in democracy. The crowd was silent as Vice President Biden took his oath, but it could not contain itself when the time came for the President-elect to step forward. In front of me, a middle-aged African-American couple held one another with their eyes closed. The speech began with a sober tone as Obama put his finger on our biggest concerns - the economy, jobs, health care, energy, environment, terrorism, and ongoing wars in the Middle East. As President Bush was famous for, Obama did not hesitate to address enemies of freedom and "those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent." His words revealed a gift for and deep commitment to diplomacy. He looked in the eyes of poor nations and pledged assistance, wealthy nations and called for accountability.
This wasn't the moment to lay out plans and decisions. Instead, we were made to recall that we are a nation of immigrants who long for freedom and opportunity, who are innovative and steadfast, risk-takers and hard-workers who have "tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united." The president made certain we knew that the government alone, nor the market alone, nor individuals alone can pull our nation out of crisis. He called on enduring principles and new innovations. "Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old."
He called all of us to creativity, service, and community.
May all of us rise to the challenge of our new president, to protect the legacy of those who have gone before us, to serve and act for the common good.
