There’s something happening here…
Something fascinating has been happening to many of my friends and their family recently. When John Edwards withdrew from the Democratic race, the dawning of the fact that either a Woman or an African American will be the a nominee for president means that America will never be the same. I find that people who have never been interested in politics are suddenly opening up to the fact that the potential for true change is at hand – finally.
Having been born in 1960, I mostly watched rather than participated in the social upheavals of the late 60’s and early 70’s. In my mid teens my political awareness and involvement grew, but unfortunately at the height of the disco era, with the horror of the Reagan years just ahead, I watched the sixties revolution fade into a period of national backsliding. During the Reagan era some of us fought like hell, but sadly we knew that ultimately we had to wait it out, wait for the social pendulum to swing to the left. It never did swing. Instead we got the economic boom of the Clinton era where the liberals earned enough money that many of us kinda forgot about the poor and the rights of gays and women. Then it was on to the Bush Jr. years. It pains me too much to even write about that here…
For nearly 40 years that pull to the left has been lost, that pull to what’s correct and just. But just now I feel the awakening in a way that hasn’t occurred since they murdered Dr. King and Senator Kennedy. I feel the stir of the slumbering giant. I feel the stir of discussions of true change, that the time is finally here. For years the American sense of social justice has been beaten down and I think many people just gave up – or forgot – or didn’t even know what it was like to feel that stir in your belly.
Cynthia and I were talking last week and we agreed how ‘change’ is merely a word until the people take it and run with it. Change does not come from above, the status quo comes from above. Change comes from below, from the students who are waking up to the prospect of a country that can be different that it was for their parents and grandparents. Change comes from the old-guard left picking up their clipboards once again and registering voters. Change comes from canvassing for your candidate. Change comes from writing your Senator and Congressperson, letting them know how you expect them to vote. Change comes from being awake. I think we’ve all been sleeping way too long.
Below is an excerpt from will.i.am’s site discussing why he decided to make the “Yes We Can” video.
Rave on will.i.am …
“…And then came New Hampshire…
And i was captivated…
Inspired…
I reflected on my life…
and the blessings I have…
and the people who fought for me to have these rights and blessings…
and I’m not talking about a “black thing”
I’m talking about a “human thing” me as a “person”
an American…
That speech made me think of Martin Luther King…
Kennedy…
and Lincoln…
and all the others that have fought for what we have today…
what America is “supposed” to be…
freedom…
equality…
and truth…
and thats not what we have today…
we think we are free…
but in reality terror and fear controls our decisions…
this is not the America that our pioneers and leaders fought and
died for…
and then there was New Hampshire
it was that speech…
like many great speeches…
that one moved me…
because words and ideas are powerful…
It made me think…
and realize that today we have “very few” leaders…
maybe none…
but that speech…
it inspired me…
it inspired me to look inside myself and outwards towards the world…
it inspired me to want to change myself to better the world…
and take a “leap” towards change…
and hope that others become inspired to do the same…
change themselves..
change their greed…
change their fears…
and if we “change that”
“then hey”..
we got something right…???”