A Powerful Day In History for America and the World

I could not let today pass without speaking to the incredibly emotional and profound experience of witnessing the Inauguration of Barak Obama, the first African American President of the United States. As one who grew up in Washington, D.C. during the 60's and whose community based and spiritual work has taken me to many urban areas and international settings where racism and injustice pervade, I am not sure that I would have anticipated the U.S. being prepared to lovingly and longingly receive an Executive Officer of color in 2008. How thankful I am to have been wrong. The entire inaugural program was quite moving. However, I want to point to two places which were particularly significant to me.

The first was a section of President Obama's Inaugural speech, early in his remarks, where he says:

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

Recently, there has been discord and turmoil within a community that I love very dearly in the U.S. Their pain and woundedness runs deep. In addition, my daily walk here in Haiti makes me keenly aware of the daily struggles and challenges within this country and, consequently, my call to respond and stand side by side with the people to help address such challenges. President Obama's words therefore resonate with me at many levels- at the National level, the community level, the international level and the personal level. He has provided all of us with an inspirational mandate-"choose hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord". We have an opportunity to be a positive and effective force again.

The second touch point for me was Elizabeth Alexander's poem. I was not familiar with Elizabeth Alexander and obtained a little biographical information on her.

Elizabeth Alexander was born in 1962 in Harlem, New York, and grew up in Washington, D.C. She received a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from Boston University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. Her collections of poetry include American Sublime (Graywolf Press, 2005), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Antebellum Dream Book (2001); Body of Life (1996); and The Venus Hottentot (1990). Alexander’s critical work appears in her essay collection, The Black Interior (Graywolf, 2004). She also edited The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks (Graywolf, 2005) and Love’s Instruments: Poems by Melvin Dixon (1995). Her poems, short stories, and critical writing have been widely published in such journals and periodicals as The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, Callaloo, The Village Voice, The Women's Review of Books, and The Washington Post. Her work has been anthologized in over twenty collections, and in May of 1996, her verse play, Diva Studies, premiered at the Yale School of Drama.

One critique says that her "poems bristle with the irresistible quality of a world seen fresh," while another noted her "instinct for turning her profound cultural vision into one that illuminates universal experience."

Elizabeth Alexander's stirring Inaugural poem is as follows:

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”

We encounter each other in words, Words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; Words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

Others by "first do no harm," or "take no more than you need."

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

One of the common threads of the Inauguration ceremonies was the reference to light. America has a chance to return to the light and rediscover what it means to be a country of pride, unity and promise. Elizabeth also speaks to the "face" of America- it is the common man pursuing an every day existence. We are all an integral part of the change that Barak Obama has inspired throughout his campaign.

As I did on election night, I witness Barak Obama's Inauguration in the dining area of the Seminaire de Theologie, alongside the Seminarians and many clergy from the Diocese. Faculty and students from Union Seminary who are facilitating a two week class series on Pastoral Care and the Gospel of Mark were also part of the community of viewers. Simultaneously, I was receiving spirited text messages from Kenya. It was truly an international moment, one I will never forget.