An Open letter to my father on the eve of this historic inauguration

 

 

 

An Open letter to my father
on the eve of this historic inauguration

Dad we made it

I was at first a little pissed with god

Because you weren't here long enough to see this

You were a prophet

When you first saw Obama

And told us that there was our next president I

Didn’t believe you

Of course I didn’t believe you when you told me to stop drinking so much

Or when you told me to stop chasing all of those crazy girls

Or when you told me that

During the 1970’s when I was ranting and raving about old Negroes ministers

That one day

I would get religion

That one day I would believe not in the men

But in the importance of God in our lives
I didn't believe you

When you told me
that

It’s a weak man who doesn’t believe in some thing greater than himself

Yes

I was pissed at you Dad

When I realized that in a lot of ways

I lost my father to the civil rights movement

To endless meetings and wheeling’s and dealings

Marches and speeches

No I didn’t believe you Dad

I didn’t’t understand your faith back then

Or why you still could even believe
enough to march and threaten
to don your dashiki
with say it loud I'm black and I'm proud
tattooed on your chest
I didn't believe

That a country that had done so much harm

To so many
could change

You believed Dad

When you fought in world war two

For a country that didn’t love you much

When you came back

Returned to the south

To a place where you couldn’t even sit at the front of a bus

But you went on

And fought
and returned and bloomed

And along with all of the not so well known heroes

I salute you Dad

I salute all of those who fought against injustice

In the quietness of small towns

And dead end jobs

I salute the black cops that came before

Me and endured the racism that they did

So I could don that uniform

In semi peace in quiet

But now

Dad as I watch Obama

As I watch the world

And most of all my people
they are shining
this is our moment in the sun
after hiding in the shadows for so long

My people are shining

I am painting again
Dad

Just Like you told me

I am painting the American flag

Over and over again

For
I realized that I am seeing this flag

Truly for the first time

It used to be a flag

That I wanted to own

That I wanted to be mine

But it never really was
quite that way

But now I am painting it

And reforming it

Tearing this flag up in my head
and rebuilding it
we can throw away
that flag that you had a part in designing
that flag that we made so we could
feel like we had a history

And my heart
Dad I now believe
you
I Do

No American will not change over night

Kids are still going to jail

People are still starving and in pain

Racism is still alive and well

But that ok
we are moving
on up to the east side

So Dad I got your picture hanging right next to the television
so I can watch you see

Yes I was mad at God

And you Dad for not seeing this
day

For not being here

But now I know

What you knew

That there is a God

That
we have to keep on keeping on
as you used to say

That that

America has and is changing

Yup

Dad I didn’t get you when you were alive

In so many ways

But I get you now

I see you now

And I know there is a God

And I know that even God

Can’t stop you from sitting right next to me

And watching it all

This Obama
he isn't a man any more
he is an idea
he is a boy called hope

Yes this spawns of you and yours
this belief

Has become the president

Amazing

Amazing time

Yup
Dad you were a prophet
a great father
And I remember every thing
you ever told me

You once told me

That it won’t happen in your life time
this change

And it didn’t

Maybe you aren't physically here
but I am you and you are me
so

When we got to the mountain top

Happy inauguration day

And I have got to say it

Just for you dad

Thank ya

Thank ya

Jesus

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