'This is our hope'

'This is our hope'


'THIS IS OUR HOPE' | King's prophetic dream, decades in the making, takes a giant leap as he passes the torch to Illinois' favorite son

January 19, 2009


BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist


WASHINGTON -- Some say that a prophet is a prophet everywhere except in his or her own home.

And some even believe that prophets died out during biblical times.

But you need look no further than the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to know the prophecy that he made 46 years ago has come to pass.

"This is our hope. This is the faith," King said in his famous "I Have A Dream" speech.

"With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."

Obama's political persona is often compared to that of Abraham Lincoln, partially because both hail from the state of Illinois and, like Lincoln, Obama is taking the reins of a government that is in crisis.

Yet, it can't be coincidence that Obama will become the first African-American president of the United States the day after the nation celebrates the birth of Dr. King.

Sunday's "We Are One" concert that kicked off the inaugural celebration was a stunning visual of the "jangling discords of our nation" turning into a "beautiful symphony."

Under the backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial, Obama paid tribute to the man and the movement that made it possible for him to now stand before 500,000 people of all races and backgrounds.

They were male and female, black, white, Asian, Latino, wealthy and working-class, clergy and activists, and all of them had embraced Obama's vision of hope just as an earlier generation embraced Dr. King's philosophy of non-violence.

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