More than a million of us are already on the Mall.
Hundreds of millions of Americans will watch on TV. Billions will watch around the world.
But there are those who never lived to see this day. Through our eyes, we will bear witness for them - those who died with a dream, those who died without hope, and those who died in bondage.
This is not a parlor game, but an earnest request that you pause for a moment and remember those you have known - and those known to you only through history - with whom you would share the news of this day.
I will bear witness for my Mom and Dad, who taught me that equality was a simple matter of fairness...as simple as right and wrong. Who both told me they would never live to see a black or a female President, but that I would. Through my eyes, they will see this moment.
And I will bear witness for Mamie Till. She died January 21, 2003.