Under the baobab: A new day proves it’s time to get to work again, and time to pass the torch
Oh Happy Day.
The recent inauguration breathed breath into Lazarus. By taking their oaths of office, President Biden and Vice President Harris heralded a return to normalcy. President Biden outlined a plan to bring us back from the eve of destruction. Vice President Harris as the first woman, African American, and South Asian to be elected VP. Songs and poetry helped to refloat the ship of state.
Celebrating the passing of a four-year storm, we sheltered together, surrounded by refuse and rubble, seeking a light, any light in the darkness. It is still difficult to be optimistic about the possibilities of building back at all let alone building back better.
We have witnessed many breath-sucking tragedies: the Kennedys and King assassinations, Katrina and her sisters, 9/11, HIV-AIDS, but never have so many happened at one time. We have been knocked to our knees but always found a way back to our feet. Leaders emerged who helped march us out of the quagmire. Touched by the spirit of the ancestors and the conscience of the community they found a way where there was no way.
I was in New Orleans’ 9th Ward in 2005, after Katrina. The air reeked of the dead still decomposing in attics. Homes were twisted into splintered wreckage. No birds sang. No children laughed. The only sounds were people weeping as they witnessed the end of a culture, the cessation of a community, the oppressive silence of absent friends, and family and neighbors. The future seemed hopeless. People believed no city could possibly come back from such devastation. Yet it did.
It was not easy. People perished in the process. We rolled up our sleeves and cleared the rubble. We found our dead loved ones and buried their corpses while exalting their memories. We comforted the heartbroken. We bathed our children, packed their lunches and set them back on the road toward tomorrow. We rebuilt homes, businesses, and people’s spirits.
Last year, in Georgia the will of the people manifested. The people voted, wilting the pillars of white supremacy, creating a ripple that grew to a wave that washed over and cleansed the U.S. Senate. In Centre County a similar process and similar patriot/heroes stood up and showed us the way. The day after the epiphany invasion of the Capitol, our Sister Leader Rev. Dr. Donna Ruth King passed into spirit. Now we must roll up our sleeves and clear our own rubble.
We are proud to be residents of Centre County and hopefully contributors. We have many friends that we love and respect. We have been called to serve in: CCU, NAACP, FOBA, Task Force on Policing and Communities of Color, the planning commission, chair of the Borough’s Human Rights Commission, MLK Plaza commission, past president of Centre County United Nations Association, co-president of the Yale Club, co-founder of Shakespeare at The Palmer. One of my proudest moments was being selected as the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012. We are the Democratic Party’s precinct captains. It is a new day. It is time for new blood. We are resigning our posts. We are recommending Ezra Nanes to replace us. He is a fine young man and committed to public service.
Much of the work must and will be done by young people. We “old heads” have a role to play as witnesses, as advisors when asked, as supporters when requested. The young people are building the world in which they and their children will live. This was made clear at the inauguration. As inspiring as the president and vice president were, it was the 22-year-old young poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, who “stole” the show. She captured the spirit of our times perfectly. Inspiring a nation, she closed her poem with:
… We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it