“We never expected the White House would become the people’s house. It’s becoming nearer and nearer to being the people’s house and not just the white people’s house.” --Rev. Joseph Lowery
Listen up. Today, The Daddy is feeling Rev. Joseph Lowery who was awarded the Medal of Freedom by The Prez yesterday. The Medal of Freedom is the highest honor this country can bestow on a citizen.
Yes, The Prez placed a medal around Rev. Lowery's neck, but no medal can in any way represent or begin to capture the danger that the Lowery's and the Ella Mae Baker's went through to get for blacks what whites took for granted: to be able to eat where they wanted, drink from any water fountain available, stay at the nearest hotel and not just the one in the "colored" section 15 miles away.
And no medal can begin to tell the story of men who, with heads bowed and backs bent, had to leave their poor homes to face the daily humiliation of being called "boy" and "nigga" by white guys 20 years younger than they. This in what America prided itself as "the greatest country in the world," and the land of equality and justice.
Dr. Lowery: No medal can adequately thank you for what you did for America: rid it of a system of apartheid not unlike that of South Africa, begin to rid us of our fear, ignorance and bestiality in a system we allowed to turn us into racial monsters and to cover our souls with hot ashes of racial hatred. But thanks to the men and women of true medal like you, apartheid is gone, and those souls are reappearing.
Rev. Lowery, you don't need a medal around your neck. You're no hip hopper. You are the Medal of Freedom.
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6 comments:
This was no doubt a most moving ceremony. Unfortunately the MSM was so wrapped up in this right wing town hall nonsense they barely gave it two minutes of air time.
Dear MacDaddy,
What a moving tribute to the Rev. Joseph Lowery....Your words were eloquent, and spoken from a heart who knows well the hard earned legacy of freedom he LIVES!
(Might I add, no 'award' would be adequate recognition of the legacy you are LIVING, MacDaddy, through your blog....Thank you for the many and varried issues you bring us almost daily....We love you!)
It is true, no award can make up for what the Rev Lowery went through those many years ago. But who knows where we'd be if he hadn't stood up and faught back so that every man could taste freedom. I applaud you Rev Joseph Lowery, you are an inspiration!
Great timely post, and a wonderful tribute. Some times I get on the old civil rights icons, but they deserve a lot of credit for allowing the rest of us to stand on their shoulders.
Peace.
A great and a moving tribute.
MadMike hit the nail on the head. The idiot MSM is so busy covering rightwing-funded and orchestrated town halls that they barely bothered to give Rev. Lowery his props.
Yessir, we are all more free today because of the commitment and sacrifices of this Freedom Fighter!
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