45 Years Ago...

The NY Times notes:

At least five people who saw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington in 1963 traveled to Denver as Democratic delegates.

Anyone who caught the John Lewis interview either on MSNBC or NPR will begin to understand the magnitude of it all, even as the Obama campaign highlights the historical nature of tonight's speech at Mile High stadium with a very light touch. For Lewis, there's nothing light or gauzy or 'celebrity' about it.

"When Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination to become the president of the United States of America and starts speaking, I think all of America and many parts of the world — the hopes, the longings, the aspirations and the dreams — will be hanging on every word he says," Lewis says.

"It's going to be incredible. You know, people died. Some people didn't make it to the March on Washington. They were beaten. They were tear-gassed. Some were shot and killed. And even after the March on Washington, where there had been so much hope, so much optimism, we had the terrible bombing in a church in Birmingham, where four little girls were killed. I thought I cried all my tears," he says.

As a skinny (and very young) white kid back in the day, my older sister brought the family together to attend aservice in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King in a predominantly black church because we/they wanted an integrated audience. I didn't know much, but I came away with a copy of Why We Can't Wait, and a realization of what was wrong with America that would make Dr. King write that book with such urgency:

In July 1963 King published an excerpt from his ‘‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’’ in the Financial Post, entitling it, ‘‘Why the Negro Won’t Wait.’’ King explained why he opposed the gradualist approach to civil rights. Referring to the arrival of African Americans in the American colonies, King asserted that African Americans had waited over three centuries to receive the rights granted them by God and the U.S. Constitution. King developed these ideas further in Why We Can’t Wait, his memoir of what he termed ‘‘The Negro Revolution’’ of 1963 (King, 2).

That was a time, and for some of the delegates and for those of a certain age, we never dreamed that in so few years an African-American would be standing on the brink of being elected President.

Ms. [Dezie] Woods-Jones, now in her 60s, is one of a tiny handful of delegates who on the same day in 1963, Aug. 28, stood with hundreds of thousands at the March on Washington and heard a young minister, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., deliver his soaring "I Have a Dream" speech.

"I was young, naïve enough to think I would see that in 5, 10 years," she said. "Then you see leaders killed, you see police brutality, residential segregation in cities. About 10 years ago I thought: I won’t see this. This is something for my grandchildren."

She paused, her eyes now red-rimmed.

"What to say except, ‘Oh, hallelujah!’ " she said. "We have a lot of work, a lot, but we are so much closer than I expected."

When paid Republican character assassins deride the columns at the stadium as a Greek temple, I think of Dr. King and John Lewis and the Lincoln Memorial, and realize how small these Republicans are, as small as their ideas. And when I hear those same analysts complain about the lack of 'red meat' at the Democratic convention, I think that they are all missing something vitally important.

The American people know (~80%) we are on the wrong track, know all about how the GOP screwed up on Katrina, know who started the Iraq war, and know who offers needed plans for health reform, tax reform and equal pay for women -  and who doesn't. The public doesn't need red meat for that, any more than they need red meat to leave the convention energized (the enthusiasm factor is vastly skewed in Obama's favor in the polls).

Thinking like a Republican just because their base is dispirited and needs the red meat (no one on the GOP side likes McCain, they're merely reconciled) is the only reason we're hearing that crap. But on the 45th anniversary of the "I have a Dream' speech, I appreciate someone who thinks larger than that.

Andrew Sullivan:

"While the McCain Republicans have launched brutal, personal and callow attacks on Obama's integrity, sincerity, and patriotism, the Obama Democrats have treated McCain with respect and deference -- more respect and deference than his nasty, petty, little campaign deserves.

They are taking a risk. They are living their message, even as McCain is trashing his own reputation with the asinine, adolescent Weekly Standard brattishness that is now his trademark."

Look at the speech through John Lewis' eyes, and see what the hollow men are missing. I am so proud of the Democratic Party, and so proud of this country. Steve Schmidt and the other character assassins, on the other hand, are contemptible. And the great thing was that Barack Obama said so, and is willing to take them on over it.

Last night, the country got to see the contrast. And in November, we'll see how far the country has come in 45 years. I remain cautiously optimistic. After all, Churchill had us pegged. "Americans always do the right thing, after trying everything else."