These Are Not My Words

On Tuesday when many people were fervently watching Obama be sworn in and speak, most people switched off their TVs or computers after his last line. This was a shame because they missed my favorite speaker of the day: a little old black man named Reverend Joseph Lowery. The whole ceremony I was hoping that someone would speak that was part of the Civil Rights Movement. It wasn't enough that it was held the day after MLK day. It needed to have someone there who had seen it all and was finally able to see this.

Just like the Little Rock 9 had been invited and given choice seats, someone on the front line who made this possible for Obama needed to speak and tell us how important this is. And they definitely found one in Rev. Lowery.

Obama's inauguration meant something different to nearly everyone who watched it. Some people saw it as a desperate change, a revolt against the Bush administration. Some people saw it as a final barrier broken and destroyed with hope. Some people saw it as something new and fresh and not the typical Washington. And, of course, some people saw it as the end of the American way of life.

I saw it with faith, and wished my grandparents could have watched it too. My grandparents had so much faith in America. My Mexican grandfather who sent all his children to college--including his daughters--who told people when they asked that he wanted his girls to be able to leave their husbands if they were bad to them. My abuelitos who worked and worked creating the foundation for a cannery out of their blood and sweat that is now decrepit and empty. Who had to make tamales for Mrs. Roettele because my grandmother was expected to, and she was never paid. My huelito who taught himself English so he could become a citizen. My huelitos who left everything for something beter. Oh, how I wish they could have seen this!



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Rev. Lowery Inauguration Benediction Transcript
(click link for source)

Transcript courtesy Federal News Service

LOWERY: God of our weary years, god of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our god, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.

Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.

We pay now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.

He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.

With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around...

(LAUGHTER)

... when yellow will be mellow...

(LAUGHTER)

LOWERY: ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen.

LOWERY: Say Amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen.

LOWERY: And Amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen.

(APPLAUSE)

Amen.