Finally, It Is Our Time

Obama's substantial win in the Mississippi primary last night, as many have noted, means that he has captured the majority of states in the Democratic primary which once composed the 11 that fought for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. In a region of the country accused by many of still fighting that conflict, I am glad that many of us have decided to lie down our guns and our bayonets.

Both white and black southern Progressives have had a historic allegiance over the years that has held steady since the passage of Civil Rights Legislation instituted by LBJ, facilitated by charismatic black leaders like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Ralph Abernathy, and a native of my own Birmingham, Alabama, Fred Shuttlesworth. Along with those prominent faces were southern progressives of both races who played an integral part in ending Jim Crow and putting into place the needed reforms. After the rise of the right not just in the South but in the United States of America simultaneously with the rise of Richard Nixon, many of our voices went underground, but we never went away altogether. Too many of us put too much blood, toil, tears, and sweat into the movement to give up that easily.

In those troubled days of segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever, many of my parents' generation stood together united against an overwhelming majority of whites who favored the doctrine of separate, but equal. In an era that soon gave rise to Wallace stickers on backs of cars and the contentious 1968 President Election won by Richard Nixon, elected on the promise of law and order, our voices played a large role in the debate. Regrettably, many of our voices were not heard. They were submerged under the shrill, hatemongering rhetoric of George Wallace and the power of the White Citizens Council. Our voices were further negated by the over-arching abuse of power by the Nixon administration, ultimately defeated by a scandal that just did not seem to want to go away, Watergate.

Let it be know now, we Progressives may have lost some key battles, but I am happy to know that we have won the war.

It is my role, as the progeny of reformers and champions of equality, as a member of the next generation, to not let the hard-fought struggles of those brave people who came before me to be fought in vain. Too many of us, white and black, rich and poor, young and old, marched, sat-in, defied, and otherwise nonviolently resisted an unfair, evil system that placed power in the hands of the powerful while disenfranchising those who had every right to stand as political equals.

Alabama has now voted for Barack Obama. Mississippi has now voted for Barack Obama. Georgia has now voted for Barack Obama. Louisiana has now voted for Barack Obama. South Carolina, that bastion of rebellion that gave rise to the Civil War, has overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama.

The coalition of hope and action that so many of us dared to dream might someday come to pass may have reached fruition. We may not live in a color-blind society, but we have made significant strides towards reaching one where many of us realize that race just.doesn't.matter You may argue that it does matter, but for many of us, it matters in different ways that are not the same ways they used to be.

In a region of the country which is still largely seen as poor, backwards, racist by historical context, and a waver of the Confederate battle flag, let me tell you as a white, male, southern, liberal, Democrat that times have changed here. Times have changed and overwhelmingly for the better. The racism that separates us now is an economic racism, but it is no longer as simple a matter as black poor versus white poor. Now we have white poor, black poor, and hispanic poor. We have a whole different kind of economic racism that is more effectively called classism.

Those of you who would visit the Birmingham, Alabama, that I have called home for most of my life would find it far from Bombingham. You would not find it the most segregated city in America. You would, however, find the economic disparities between whites, blacks, and latinos disturbing. Yet, that is true increasingly throughout this country. That is true in Ohio, that is true in Texas, that is true in many states across this great nation. We here in Birmingham and in Alabama and in the south are no different in that respect than many other places, though we do tend to talk funny, with this drawly, slow accent many outsiders tend to see as quite charming.

Free for all
so choose your places well

But you won't believe
all the things we're telling you

End it all before the curtain falls
Because all time will tell

Is that everything is a lie

I lost the fight
but won the war

And no one really knows
What it is we're fighting for

You lost the fight
But won the war

Have you considered the cost
of abusing your devotion?

And if we get lost we can find out
Where it was we used to be
when time stood still for you

You or I could
tell a story well

But attention fell before
the lights came on again

Without the sense of hearing
My thoughts are disappearing

And all time will tell
Is that anyone can decide

I lost the fight but won the war
And no one really knows

what it is we're fighting for anyway
You lost the fight but won the war

And no one really knows
what it is we're fighting for

Have you considered
the cost of abusing your devotion?

And if we get lost we can find out

Where it was we used to be
We're following signs to the sea

So take your time
If you're leaving before me

-Andrew Scott