'Part of Dr. King's Dream is Alive.'

By Michael R. Sisak/The Citizens' Voice

Rev. Kenneth Burnett saw American history and black history side-by-side on the walls of a classroom at E.L. Meyers High School in Wilkes-Barre.

“They had pictures of all the presidents hanging around the room and they had one picture of Martin Luther King,” Burnett said. “Our history is much bigger than that.”

Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman are part of that history. Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass are part of that history.

Barack Obama is part of that history.

Arthur Breese, the Director of Diversity for Geisinger Health System and the co-chairman of the Luzerne County Diversity Commission, expects his thoughts to shift to those historic men and women tomorrow as he watches on television Obama’s inauguration as the nation’s first black president.

“They are a silent bunch right now,” Breese said. “But we could never forget them.”

Obama will take the oath of office across the National Mall in Washington D.C. from the spot in front of the Lincoln Memorial where King chanted, “I have a dream,” and preached for equality and justice for all.

“Part of Dr. King’s dream is alive — that we judge someone by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, which was so integral in his dream,” Breese said. “It's going to impact our children, to be able to see someone of color in that position — especially where our children have very little frame of reference with regard to that.”

Obama’s election will not end racism or eliminate the hate and bigotry that continues to confront blacks across the country and in the region, Ron Felton, the president of the Wilkes-Barre chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said.

"I don't think we should be disillusions or falsely believe that his election is going to end racism,” Felton said. “What it did do was show that racism is become less and less of an issue."

Obama’s inauguration will not add more black teachers to local schools, or to the ranks of the Wilkes-Barre City police and fire departments. Currently, Wilkes-Barre had one black police officer and no black firefighters, Breese said.

“In this area, people talk diversity, they don't really believe in diversity,” Burnett said.

Obama will inherit a nation confronted by a myriad of issues, including the economic meltdown and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His leadership on those fronts can have a major impact on race and the youth who see him as a role model, Felton said.

“The byproduct of this most dire time since the Great Depression, is that he's on stage front and center and I think it will do a lot for race relations, I know it has done a lot for the African-American community,” Felton said. Now when our children say they want to be president, the parents won't say, ‘yeah, sure, o.k.’ 'Yes, we can. I think that slogan will resonate for many years to come.”

Obama’s victory last January in the Iowa caucuses, the first contest of the Democratic primary season, solidified his viability as a candidate and potential nominee, Breese and Felton said.

Felton called it a game changer.

“The best analogy is like when you’re watching a football game and one play can be a momentum changer,” Felton said. “That one play was Iowa. Iowa caused many African-Americans to stop and take another look.”

Black voters needed Iowa to validate Obama’s candidacy, Felton said.

"That caused many of us to stop and take a more serious look at his candidacy,” Felton said. “That's how I followed it, pretty much on."

Obama earned 37.6 percent of the vote in Iowa, beating the establishment Democrats John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who won 24.7 and 29.4 percent of the vote, respectively.

"When he won Iowa, I said, ‘this is going to happen — if Iowa is electing him, he has a chance,’” Breese recalled.

His 77-year-old father, James, remained skeptical.

James had lived through segregation and civil rights and had seen other black candidates falter. He remembers a time in Wilkes-Barre when blacks were confined to one street, one neighborhood, one cemetery; a time when they were forced to enter the Westmoreland Club on South Franklin Street from the rear — just as blacks had been made to do at establishments in the South.

"Nope, don't get too excited,” James told Arthur. “Don't get your hopes up because you're going to get let down. This is as far as it's going to go."

Shirley Chisholm, a schoolteacher and seven-term congresswoman from Brooklyn, N.Y., won 2.7 percent of the vote during the 1972 Democratic primaries and received 152 of the first-ballot votes at the party’s convention in Miami Beach, where George McGovern won the nomination.

Jesse Jackson, the minister and civil rights activist, won 18.2 percent of the overall primary voting in 1984, and earned victories in Louisiana, South Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi and the District of Columbia. He finished third behind former Vice President Walter Mondale and Colorado Sen. Gary Hart.

In 1988, Jackson earned 29.1 percent of the overall primary vote, winning 7 primaries and 4 caucuses. He briefly led the race, with the most overall delegates, but ultimately lost the nomination to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.

Chisholm earned 1 percent of the vote in Iowa in 1972 and Jackson took 2 percent in 1984. Jackson did not compete in the caucuses in 1988.

Obama followed Iowa with Super Tuesday victories in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Utah.

Obama clinched the nomination by June.

"Just seeing that transformation from then to now and to see a person win a major caucus like that and put together a string of wins, and raising money, the kind of money he raised, it was overwhelming," Felton said.

Angel Jirau, a member of the Wilkes-Barre N.A.A.C.P. and the Luzerne County Diversity Commission, cried last week as he thought back to election night and the tallies — Obama at 365 electoral votes, the Republican nominee Sen. John McCain at 173.

“Even at this time it's very emotional, I was overcome as I am now,” Jirau said. “I just couldn't believe it. I went around from house to house that night when the results came in, I never seen so many grown people crying, holding hands, going to church. It was like a big weight was lifted from all those people who fought for this for so many years.”

Obama’s rise to power and widespread popularity (his approval rating registered at 83 percent days before the inauguration) have drawn comparisons to King, John and Robert Kennedy and even Abraham Lincoln, the iconic leader who is memorialized across the National Mall from where Obama will be sworn in.

King, the Kennedys and Lincoln were all assassinated — King on the balcony of a motel in Memphis in April 1968, John Kennedy in a Dallas motorcade in November 1963, Robert Kennedy in a Los Angeles hotel in June 1968 and Lincoln in the balcony of a Washington theater in April 1865.

"He reminds us so much of Dr. King at a young age, with what he inspired,” Jirau said. “We pray to God history does not repeat itself.”

Jirau, who grew up in New York, said he and his Puerto Rican immigrant parents, Maria and Juan Luis, found inspiration in King’s message, in his dream.

Burnett said he prays for Obama every morning and night. He prays “that the Lord watch over him and his family,” he said. He prays, “that no harm, hurt or danger” comes to them.

“All it takes is one nut,” Burnett said. “We remember not only Martin Luther King, but also Robert Kennedy and John Kennedy and Malcolm X, all those great leaders were assassinated, for what?”

Breese shared a different philosophy.

"I come from the frame of reference that you're not going anywhere until it's your time,” Breese said. “We die by appointment. We have a birth date and a death date. That's just not one of my fears.”

Tomorrow is Obama’s time to make history, to join the line of presidents on the wall of the classroom, to fulfill part of the dream.