In the historic month of January in the year 2009, nearing the eve of Black History Month, came two days when history was made: January 19 and 20, the coldest two days of the month, but the hottest ticket in the city was for the inaugural weekend events when people from all walks of life filled the streets of Washington D.C. for one cause – setting the stage for the historical, cold, but rain-free inaugural events.
Families, friends, entertainers, actors, activists, and Street Sense vendors, writers, reporters, and photographers, and news stations from every corner of the United States with eyes from around the world, were front and center on the first family’s historic day.
Once again the march was on the streets of the nation’s capital, where thousands of people traced the footsteps of history to fulfill the dream within the mist: the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader, activist and good friend of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The NAACP, welcoming members from out of town at the Lansburgh Theater, the NAACP’s inauguration welcoming center for the weekend, location 450 7th Street, NW in downtown Washington, D.C., with keynote speaker Benjamin T. Jealous, president and CEO, with a focus on the business of the organization and the shifting of its mission from achieving civil rights, to attaining human rights for all. And the way to get there, Mr. Jealous said, is “to access educational equality.” And highlighting the night, a spoken word performance and the recording of the historic event, with the congratulations being forwarded to Barack and Michelle Obama.
Moreover, the NAACP has had a hand in the shaping of lives and history alike for 100 years, being founded February 12, 1909, and so celebrated its own milestone anniversary with the witnessing and the making of history and the marking of the day in history.
It was “The day my mother would have loved to have seen” and with that, you may now tell your son or your daughter truly that he or she can run for the presidential office, and with the love of the people you may some day become the President of the Land of the Free.
That’s your report from Street Sense News – the newsroom of the streets.
