Inauguration Day

UPDATE 10:36 PM - I had to change the location of watching Obama's first inaugural to Douglass Hall - this is where Morehouse students would go and study. It would bother me to leave that minor detail in this post.

Today Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th P.O.T.U.S. and this election was very contentious and sadly culminated in the riots that took place at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month. We're still in unprecedented times with this pandemic and now we have a new chief of state to move us forward once again.

It causes me to remember another historic occasion which was the election of his former boss the 44th P.O.T.U.S Barack Obama. I was still at Morehouse College at the time and watched the inauguration on TV in Mays Douglass Hall at the time. I was a bit older than many of the students there and perhaps a bit more jaded.

Morehouse

Well it wasn't lost upon me that America had just elected an African-American as President a man of Kenyan descent a man who formerly represented in the IL General Assembly a large swath of an urban area from the skyscrapers of downtown to largely Black neighborhoods. It wasn't lost upon me that many of the young people who were in school at the time in the Atlanta University Center were celebrating the election of someone who looked like them as our Chief of State. It also wasn't lost upon me that there were unprecedented times with the financial meltdown back then.

And I felt even more jaded when an older lady who worked at Mays Douglass Hall made us stand up as Obama took the oath of office as she wanted us to give President Obama his due respect. Later when I graduated then Morehouse President Robert Franklin made sure to note to us that we graduated with a P.O.T.U.S. who looked like us.

And today and the lead up the atmosphere is different. The grounds around the U.S. Capitol was surrounded by a heavy presence of not only police but National Guard troops from around the country. I wonder what the polls say about those voters who think there was fraud - though largely unproven - in the 2020 election. I wonder what the polls say about the uncertainty of what the new President will bring to the table for the next four years.

I had those same questions about Obama, for my tastes he was never an executive. He served barely four years as a U.S. Senator and I don't know of any committees he's chaired. Obama was without a doubt a charismatic leader with great oratory, but in my mind I had little idea what he could bring to the table. 

However back in 2009 and up to now I always hope for the best. [VIDEO]

If you want to know why I included My Country tis of Thee, this is the anthem we sung before assemblies when I was in grammar school.

Oh and a trip to the U.S. Capitol needs to be featured on The Sixth Ward YouTube channel. Hmmmm. 🤔