Imagine sitting along the Potomac \u00e2\u20ac\u201d on the afternoon of August 28, 1963 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d near the Memorial Bridge, which pierces into the heart of the Arlington plantation. You could probably hear the orations and ovations taking place on the other side of the river, just around the front of the Lincoln Memorial.<\/p>\n
An historic \u00e2\u20ac\u0153March on Washington\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was reaching its crescendo that hot and sunny day with the arrival of a 34 year-old preacher from Georgia; a man mature beyond his years who helped transform the face of this nation.<\/p>\n
You wonder if the traffic on the GW Parkway, which snakes along the shoulder of our county, had slowed, as it does on the night of the Fourth of July. Did people line the banks on our side and listen to young Martin Luther King declare, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have a dream today\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/p>\n
When he spoke of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free at last, free at last; thank God almighty, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re free at last,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d did we get it?<\/p>\n
If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re white, as am I, you may have puzzled, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What does he mean, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfree at last\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There is no slavery. People aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t held against their will \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 at least they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t before the current Administration took office.<\/p>\n
But I am not a black man. I did not live in a nation where it was considered \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsport\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in some states to grab a black man from his home and drag him, with his wife and children watching, to the nearest big tree, where he was spit upon and summarily lynched by a hateful, bloodthirsty crowd.<\/p>\n
Imagine; just try to imagine living in a world where you knew this could happen to you at any time and any place for any reason. What kind of life is that? Are you free to live \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in pursuit of happiness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Does your gut clench every night when you try to go to sleep and every morning when you raise into consciousness, wondering if this was the day the cowardly-hooded night-riders would burst into your life?<\/p>\n
Move forward to today. In a training session at the office, the leader asks each person how they would describe themselves. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What is the one characteristic that defines you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Each of us spoke of such things as belief, parent, spouse, or social class. But, when Joseph\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s turn came, he simply said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am black. That is the one thing I am reminded of every day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Do we make that reality happen for the Joseph\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and the Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Lamar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s?<\/p>\n
When you are seated in a restaurant, do you take a second look, when an African-American couple is shown to their booth? At the grocery store, do you find yourself looking into the shopping cart of an African-American mother, as she empties it on the belt? Do you wonder, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is she going to use food stamps?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
And when you are walking along Columbia Pike or in Clarendon, do you feel uncomfortable if a loud bunch of young African-American youngsters or young adults approaches on the sidewalk?<\/p>\n
Finally, when you are driving, if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re white, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live in fear that you might be stopped by the police, for whatever reason. You aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t grabbed by the terror that a traffic stop might end with a night in jail, because you \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclook like\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 someone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being sought for a crime.<\/p>\n
Consider this: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, African Americans make up12.7 percent of the US population and 48.2 percent of adults in state and federal prisons and local jails. Human Rights Watch reports, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153black men [in 2000] were eight times more likely to be in prison than white men.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
This is an outrage! Add in the facts of intimidation of black voters in Florida and the car chases that have led, here in the Washington area, to the police killing of innocent African-Americans, and we get a tiny inkling of what it means to be black in 2007.<\/p>\n
So, who is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in these United States? Take a moment to mentally \u00e2\u20ac\u0153walk in the shoes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of a person of color, and then step into a store, a diner, or on a sidewalk. Only when we can see each other as the person in front of us, and not the person of color in front of us, will we have reached the time when we all are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free at last.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Let us work, truly work, to make that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dream\u00e2\u20ac\u009d happen. Let us end the nightmare of soul-eating prejudice that lurks inside.<\/p>\n