At God’s Politics, Rev. Joseph E. Lowery reflects on being asked to participate in the inauguration of the first African-American president of the United States:
[T]here’s something much greater at work here.
I first sensed it in the snows of Iowa and New Hampshire where I saw the ruddy, frozen cheeks of white college students standing in snowdrifts up to their knees in support of the candidacy of Barack Obama.
I saw it as I watched a new generation text-messaging and using their iPods to spread the word about this extraordinary man.
I watched in awe, and with great satisfaction, as record numbers of Americans—black, white, young, old, Latino, gay and straight, rich and poor—registered to vote in order that they might participate in the greatest calling of a democracy: the right to engage in participatory democracy.
And it was a beautiful thing to see.
Read the full piece here.