Photos: "Drum majors for a righteous cause." (The Obama Presidency, Day 465)

Clio the Leo

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Fri Apr-30-10 10:03 PM
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Photos: "Drum majors for a righteous cause." (The Obama Presidency, Day 465)

Edited on Fri Apr-30-10 10:03 PM by Clio the Leo

One of my favorite moments with Dr. Height -- this was just a few months ago -- we had decided to put up the Emancipation Proclamation in the Oval Office, and we invited some elders to share reflections of the movement. And she came and it was a inter-generational event, so we had young children there, as well as elders, and the elders were asked to share stories. And she talked about attending a dinner in the 1940s at the home of Dr. Benjamin Mays, then president of Morehouse College. And seated at the table that evening was a 15-year-old student, �a gifted child,� as she described him, filled with a sense of purpose, who was trying to decide whether to enter medicine, or law, or the ministry.

And many years later, after that gifted child had become a gifted preacher -- I�m sure he had been told to be on his best behavior -- after he led a bus boycott in Montgomery, and inspired a nation with his dreams, he delivered a sermon on what he called �the drum major instinct� -- a sermon that said we all have the desire to be first, we all want to be at the front of the line.

The great test of a life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, is to harness that instinct; to redirect it towards advancing the greater good; toward changing a community and a country for the better; toward doing the Lord�s work.

I sometimes think Dr. King must have had Dorothy Height in mind when he gave that speech. For Dorothy Height met the test. Dorothy Height embodied that instinct. Dorothy Height was a drum major for justice. A drum major for equality. A drum major for freedom. A drum major for service. And the lesson she would want us to leave with today -- a lesson she lived out each and every day -- is that we can all be first in service. We can all be drum majors for a righteous cause. So let us live out that lesson. Let us honor her life by changing this country for the better as long as we are blessed to live. May God bless Dr. Dorothy Height and the union that she made more perfect.

Barack Obama

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/29/remembering-dr-dorothy-i-height">Remembering Dr. Dorothy I. Height
US President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden join others for the funeral of Dorothy Height, a historic figure in the US civil rights movement, at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2010. Height, who led the National Council for Negro Women for four decades, and was present at the key battles for racial equality since the 1930s, died at age 98 after a lifetime devoted to the fight for equality.

(if I die and the President just so happens to give my eulogy, you all are in charge of making sure no one takes pictures during it, sheesh!)

President Barack Obama, left, watches as Poet Maya Angelou, right, is escorted back to her seat after speaking during Dorothy Height's funeral services

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/29/where-i-pinch-myself">Is this where I pinch myself?
President Barack Obama, right, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, center, stand with 35-year-old Johnston High School teacher Sarah Brown Wessling of Iowa, the 2010 National Teacher of the Year, during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 29, 2010.

WASHINGTON - APRIL 29: Vice President Joe Biden presides over a Recovery Act implementation cabinet meeting with Obama Administration department heads in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House April 29, 2010 in Washington, DC. Biden and Energy Secretary Stephen Chu announced new Recovery Act awards at the beginning of the meeting.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/30/adding-a-little-color">Adding a Little Color
First lady Michelle Obama smiles at a student while attending a service project at Marie H. Reed Learning Center in Washington, on Thursday, April 29, 2010.

... and the next day...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/30/economic-heartbeat-growing-stronger">"That Economic Heartbeat is Growing Stronger"
President Barack Obama delivers a statement in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Friday, April 30, 2010.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/29/west-wing-week-doing-math">Video: West Wing Week: "Doing the Math"

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Tarheel_Dem

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Fri Apr-30-10 10:13 PM
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1. Great collection, Clio. (nt)

:kick:

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onehandle

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Fri Apr-30-10 10:31 PM
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2. Sarah Brown Wessling is thinking, 'Whew! Thank God I wasn't the best a couple of years ago...

'...I would have had to accept this from the class dunce.'

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political_Dem

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Fri Apr-30-10 10:40 PM
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3. They are certainly excellent pictures. Thank you very much.

Edited on Fri Apr-30-10 10:49 PM by political_Dem

They really capture the essence of how Mr. Obama's day is structured. And from what I can see, he, the FLOTUS and his staff have their dockets filled. He's (as well as everyone else in the WH) very hard working.

But, I still have to say that the pictures of Dr. Height's service were rather touching--especially when you could look out into the faces of guests and see how loved she was. If that wasn't the measure of one's life, I don't know what is.

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Historic NY

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Fri Apr-30-10 10:41 PM
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4. I like the West Wing Week...video.

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Clio the Leo

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Fri Apr-30-10 10:50 PM
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6. Those are so cute....

... I like watching the various Cabinet Secys TRYING to act ... and the "behind the scenes" footage is always fun.

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Cha

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Fri Apr-30-10 10:44 PM
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5. Thanks Clio..that's a great way to

top off a day..with Rahm.:)

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FrenchieCat

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Sat May-01-10 12:37 AM
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7. Thanks!

Edited on Sat May-01-10 12:42 AM by FrenchieCat

Love the West Wing Week Video!
I Didn't know about this.
I've got some catching up to do! :hi:

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BlueMTexpat

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Sat May-01-10 03:08 AM
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8. Great collection generally, but who-ah!

The wings on one of those butterflies nearly caused me to ruin my keyboard!

Of course, those designs could also be taken for baguettes.

:wow: :rofl:

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