As I SEE It
By
Thom Gossom Jr.
Happy Birthday to me!
Birthdays for me have always been celebratory. From my time
as a curly-headed grinning youngster, to my memorable 21st, 40th
and 50th birthdays. They’ve always been special.
Today’s celebration is also reflective, A look back, over
the journey of things seen, lessons learned, and paths crossed.
I’ve jokingly talked about the uniqueness of this birthday.
I’ve said to friends, “Think about it, President Barack Obama’s Inauguration,
Martin Luther King’s Holiday and my birthday all falling on the same day.” Wow!
Do I feel special? Yes I do.
A beneficiary of Dr. King’s legacy and a forerunner to
President Obama’s “he’s the first African American,” to do this experience, my
reflection leads me back down history’s path. True history and truth are the
scorekeepers for legacies. They record who is right and who is wrong.
Dr. King more than “having a dream” ushered in changes in
social and economic morality in the United States. His sermons and speeches
resonate today as moral, guideposts for ethics and character.
Annually, I read from A
Testament Of Hope, The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King. The book, an inspiring work is a collection
of King’s speeches on nonviolence, civil disobedience, and social policy. My
favorite is The Drum Major
Instinct, delivered from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church on
February 4, 1968. The lessons are “fitness over favoritism” and “servant
leadership” (“he who is greatest among you shall be the servant to all”). I
have been honored to perform these words from Dr. King’s works. I can think of
no higher honor.
The praise for King did not come easy. The criticism and
stinging arrows were scary and led to his assassination. He was mocked, “a
communist,” “a socialist,” “…he hates America.” “An outside agitator.”
Obviously, they were on the wrong side of history.
I wonder about President Obama? The personal attacks on this
President have been different. Hate filled. My friends who happen to be white,
whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, tell me of the hate filled
stories about this man that are shared with them that those same “ friends”
don’t feel comfortable sharing with me. My friends tell me if they defend their
points of view with intelligence and fact, the conversation becomes a treatise
on” treason” and “the white race.”
George W. Bush was a
bad President, most agree. His record on
the economy, United States security, international relations, and other key
indicators verify that. Yet there was never the personal hate this President is
subjected to. Surely, if raising taxes and the deficit were the sole issue,
Ronald Reagan would no longer be praised.
At a recent football reunion, two ex-teammates were somewhat
embarrassed at their own words and actions as portrayed in my book Walk-On, My Reluctant Journey to
Integration at Auburn University, a look at my personal sports
integration of major college football. Today, they are fine gentlemen, but back
then they reacted to me out of ignorance and lack of exposure. They listened to
false information designed to divide people and protect economic
interests. I’m sure today, it’s
embarrassing.
In my presentations and speeches, I often get the audience
to mentally travel along with me back to the days of southern sports
integration. If they are old enough, I ask them to examine their own feelings
of who they were at that time. I then ask if they would want their
grandchildren to have known them back then. I ask whether they were on the
right side or the wrong side of history.
Many choose to lower their eyes no longer willing to make
eye contact, their action a telltale giveaway to their answer. I imagine it’s
not a comforting feeling to know that you were wrong, because of your own
ignorance and your own unwillingness or laziness in searching out the truth.
Finally and for my birthday, ask yourself this question;
Thirty years from now, will you have been on the right side or the wrong side
of history? Will you be able to look those who come behind you in the eye or
will you lower your eyes in shame?
