Reflections on MLK as Washington prepares for Obama
Updated on 20 January 2009
On the day of Barack Obama's inauguration, Felicity Spector says Americans are searching for a higher purpose in memory of Martin Luther King.
A simple notice in a Washington storefront evokes the spirit of this moment - Martin Luther King Day, this year not only honouring the memory of the murdered civil rights leader - but imploring Americans to search for a higher purpose: 'Martin walked, so Obama could run. Obama is running, so our children can fly.'
And that's the sentiment that's meant to guide everyone here: before the partying and the street celebrations and the all night bars unleashed around tomorrow's set piece event - a more sober moment. Not just to reflect on the nation's problems - but to pitch in, and help.
And Obama and family have been rolling up their sleeves, to show they can lead by example.
At an emergency centre for homeless teenagers, the president-elect's been turning decorator - grabbing a paint brush to give the walls a new coat of blue before his wife Michelle, along with Joe Biden's wife Jill, was also doing her bit, helping volunteers to put together thousands of care packages for troops overseas.
More than 120,000 different volunteer projects have been set up across the country today - but Obama has called for more than a one-day wonder.
"I ask the American people to turn today's efforts into an ongoing commitment to enriching the lives of others", he said.
The president-elect's message today is a call to action, a call not just to rebuild America, but to rebuild it together.
And later - a direct appeal to the memory of Martin Luther King and his unique vision "that Americans might share the freedom to make of our lives what we will; that our children might climb higher than we would".
It's a lofty ambition - to unite a country fractured by economic turmoil, by conflicts abroad, by partisan division and frustration with power.
But this was why Obama was elected - why he swept to office carrying the hopes and the dreams of so many millions of people with him.
The promise of change - of hope - of coming together in adversity and reaching out to those left behind.
That's why the atmosphere here in the nation's capital is more than just excitement about the inauguration itself - it's about a shared optimism: a belief that things really will get better.
And it's why Obama has been so deliberately low key today, so keen to remind those who have invested such enormous hopes in his ability to bring about change that he can only deal in reality, not in dreams - that progress will be slow, and difficult, and unpredictable - and above all, that we are all in this together.
And that's why the president-elect's message today is a call to action, a call not just to rebuild America, but to rebuild it together.
