npr.org ran this story yesterday:
St. Louis Voters Discuss Struggles, Election Hopes
And the reason I wanted to bring it to your attention is that is had one of the most memorable statements I've come across all election season.
I will try to summarize the article below the fold and will end with the that beautiful statement.
First, for those so inclined, the npr audio can be found at the top of this web page.
The article starts with the state of the race in Missouri:
Polls show the presidential race to be neck and neck in Missouri. To win the state, Barack Obama would need to siphon votes from John McCain in rural and suburban areas, which are traditional Republican strongholds.
And follows by what Obama can reliably expect from Missouri:
But Obama can count on overwhelming support in Missouri's urban centers, including St. Louis — a majority black city that's expected to give him a big boost on Election Day.
The article (and the audio) then discusses the feelings of a group of trainees at the nonprofit Manufacturing Training Alliance, an organization that is tying to help train workers for manufacturing jobs.
It's a heart-warming conversation with a group of African Americans about the election. Many are planning to vote for the first time in their life. Many thinking seriously about a change in perception: This time our votes will count! The interviewer gets some responses from the trainees about what they would feel come November 5th if Obama is the victor. It was moving to hear that stuff, some of it quite funny, coming from real folks out there.
At the end of the piece, which I strongly encourage you to read and listen to the audio, comes the money quote. This, apparently, was a text message the trainees' instructor got from a friend urging him to vote.
To put this quote in perspective for those unfamiliar with black history, it mentions Rosa, as in Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005), whom the U.S. Congress called "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement". Here's a blurb from the Wikipedia page on Parks:
On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Her action was not the first of its kind: Irene Morgan, in 1946, and Sarah Louise Keys, in 1955, had won rulings before the Supreme Court and the Interstate Commerce Commission respectively in the area of interstate bus travel. But unlike these previous individual actions of civil disobedience, Parks' action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Parks's act of defiance created the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.
The next person mentioned in the quote is Martin, as is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It would be strange for a DK reader not to know anything about MLK, but in case you needed to refresh your memory, here's a good place to start. The quote refers to his "walking", a.k.a. the 1963 March on Washington:
On August 28, more than 2,000 buses, 21 special trains, 10 chartered airliners, and uncounted cars converged on Washington. The regularly scheduled planes, trains, and buses were also filled to capacity.
The march failed to start on time, because its leaders were meeting with members of Congress. To the leaders' surprise, the assembled group began to march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial without them.
Representatives from each of the sponsoring organizations addressed the crowd from the podium. Floyd McKissick read James Farmer's speech because Farmer had been arrested during a protest in Louisiana; Farmer had written that the protests would not stop "until the dogs stop biting us in the South and rats stop biting us in the North."
Musician Bob Dylan performed several songs, including "Only a Pawn in Their Game," about the culturally-fed racial hatred amongst Southern whites that led to the assassination of Medgar Evers; and "When the Ship Comes In," during which he was joined by fellow folksinger Joan Baez.
King gave his famous I Have a Dream speech, which was carried live by TV stations.
So having said all that, and kept you in so much suspense, I will now share the beautiful quote from that reported text message:
"Rosa sat so Martin could walk...
Martin walked, so Obama could run...
Obama is running so our children can fly!"
Poetic!
Reading it and hearing it, I was rendered speechless and tearful.
Hope you liked it as well.
Now go vote!
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Update#1: Apparently, this quote has been around for a while. I found this web store already selling T-shirts with the quote on them!
Interestingly, instead of "Obama", it was "Barack" on those shirts! ( A comment by Ernest T Bass noted the inconsistency, as Rosa and Martin are first names)
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Update#2: I think I found the origin of this quote! Believe it or not, it looks like it was Jay-Z at a concert in New York City on October 5th! (If anyone can trace the quote to an earlier event or to someone else, please post a comment)
You can watch this video (poor quality by the way) At around 1min:53sec into it, Jay-Z said the following:
"Rosa Parks sat, so Martin could walk... Martin walked, so Obama could run... Obama is running, so we all could fly
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Update#3: There seems to be yet another variation of this out there (h/t to Tin hat mafia)
Crispus fell, so Rosa Parks could sit. Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King, Jr. could march. Martin Luther King, Jr. marched so Barack Obama could run. Barack is running so our children can FLY!
The reference to Crispus Attucks (killed during the Boston Massacre of 1770) is an interesting one. I'm now completely unsure what the original quotation is or who said it.