Op-Ed: A Proud Day, As History Has Been Made in America

As the world watched America made history, history that could only be made when people come together across all divides and unite for a common goal.

America made history yesterday, in the great tradition of democracy the American people spoke out loud and proud to elect the first non white U.S. president. For many in America this is a day that only a few years ago they dreamed of but believed it would only be a dream, never to become a reality in their life time. many others did not dare dream of this day. On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. On December 5, 1955, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was unanimously elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and the Montgomery Bus Boycott began. Many whites believed that this would end quickly, after all, they had to have public transportation and they just needed to stay in the back of the bus. they were wrong, this passive protest would last for 382 days and result in the bombing of Martin luther King's home as well as his arrest on conspiracy charges yet the boycott continued. This passive, silent steadfast approach led to the December 21, 1956 supreme court ruling that segregation on public transportation was illegal. King would go on to lead many nonviolent protests following the teachings of Thoreau and the examples of Gandhi as the leader of The Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This passive approach would be met with violence, it would lead to many arrests and the eventual assassination of Martin Luther King but not before he would help change the course of American history. He would not die before becoming the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, meet with Pope Paul VI, and be Time Magazine's Man of the Year. He would not die before giving the famous "I Have a Dream"Speech. He would not die before America saw for themselves the film of "Bloody Sunday" when 600 African-American marchers were attacked on the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Ala. by state troopers in an attempt to stop their march to the capital for the right to vote. The arrest, beatings, and deaths of that day would lead to a public outcry for change and to President Johnson presenting congress with "The Voting Rights Act". It took three attempts but finally 3200 african-Americans crossed that bridge under the protection of the National Guard. It was a long walk from the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama to this day in history, a long march from "I Have a Dream" to a dream realized for millions. It was a long journey from segregation to Americans coming together over all racial divides to achieve a common goal. It is important for us all to remember that this dream was realized by uniting in "The United States" and that all things are possible when we are united. I thought it was ironic that the democratic news source known as citizen journalism made its own history by bringing the first all CJ live blogging to the world news arena on this historic day thanks to The Digital Journal.