Your Take #21

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From TPM Reader RM

I’m a 48-year old white man, born and raised in Florida. Before I was born my parents became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. When I was a child we attended a mostly black Methodist church in Miami, the Church of the Open Door. The church was led by an extraordinary preacher, Doctor Curtis McDowell, a very light-skinned black man, a native of North Carolina, who had spent many years as a missionary in Angola.

Dr. McDowell was, like Dr. King, a passionate advocate for social justice. Like Barack Obama, Dr. McDowell was captivated by the fierce urgency of now. And like Barack Obama, he had the capacity to take people as he found them, to love what was good in the most backward thinking racists, and to disarm hate with humor and Christian fellowship.

In the darkest days, like after King’s and Bobby Kennedy’s assasinations, Dr. McDowell, who had seen many horrors in his life, would say, “take heart, this too shall pass.” I’ve never had more occasion to repeat that sage wisdom to myself than over the last eight years.

Actually, I’ve been waiting all my conscious life for a president who lived up to the passionate commitments and outstanding character of my biggest childhood role models–my parents and Dr. Curtis McDowell. Barack Obama is that president. His inauguration fills me with great hope for and great pride in my country. We’re finding our way.

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