We are finally there. Today is the eve of the inauguration of Barrack Obama. As of tomorrow president Obama will finally be able to exhale. That accomplishment will be at least one thing he can check off his to-do list. But what will the rest of us be checking off of our list? We’ve got one more day to release the chains that we have carried for so long. And that refers to just the easy task ahead for White people. Blacks on the other hand, need to take those same chains and throw them off the plank of our proverbial slave ships.

What an interesting alignment of stars we have with the confluence of Obama’s ascendency to the presidency and Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday celebration and a global crisis that Blacks can neither claim ownership to nor deny culpability. While watching the “We are One” Concert this past Sunday with all its fanfare and celebrity sightings, the audience was continuously reminded of our predecessors who died and suffered in order to make the day and it surrounding events possible. The significance of this collection of moments is palpable.

We are celebrating a Black man who is poised to lead the nation during one of its most difficult eras of all time as well as the memory of another Black man who gave his life to the cause of allowing such a thing to happen. We don’t want to forget and the incessant reminders bring us back to the harsh realities that paved the way for this day. But what strikes me is the deeper reality that recent generations of blacks haven’t stepped up to advance the cause of the greater population. By and large we have sort of adopted an attitude of “me first.” Perhaps this is in direct response to centuries of disenfranchisement or perhaps there are other forces working against us. Whichever, the time for change has come.

One of the benefits I see of Blacks being disenfranchised is that no one can blame Blacks for the problems. After all, how many Blacks agreed with or voted for George W. Bush’s tax cuts or his ill-conceived Iraq War or his deregulation of the banking industry? Whew! We side-stepped having to own that responsibility.  Oops! I almost forgot. We also didn’t vote for John Kerry, the man who might have helped us avert the last eight years of bad policy. Hmmm…It looks like we don’t vote at all. Historically, we haven’t. Well, now we have demonstrated that we do understand what is supposed to be done at the polls and we showed up in record numbers, finally taking responsibility for something: our part of Barack Obama’s victory. Maybe we have now learned the lesson that if you do not vote you are equally to blame for the outcome of your inaction.

What at one time appeared to be White guilt has yielded to what is more reminiscent of White pride. Whites who protested Bush policies, and campaigned and voted for Barack Obama didn’t do it because they feel guilty that George Washington owned slaves and thus, Blacks were entitled to finally get a free pass. They, like the millions of people globally dancing in the streets, clearly see the promise of a better day in Obama’s words, deeds and character. What has been missing from American politics will hopefully be replaced beginning now and will build over the next four years.

We are anticipating four years of raised expectations. We are eager to hold our leaders accountable for leading us with grace and dignity. We are tired of being ridiculed around the globe for ramrodding our will (and policies) down the collective throats of our earth-mates. Barack has an opportunity to be a great president not because he is Black but because he is walking into a crisis and if he can solve it he’ll be the hero. Interestingly, he will be the first African-American hero that I can remember since Dr. King.

The civil rights movement has come full circle and like all circles it has no beginning and no end. But this circle needn’t be vicious. The movement really is an entity unto itself and we need to acknowledge where the bigger circle began. Did it begin with slavery? Or did it begin with honest, hard-working African’s loving their families in various locales on the continent of Africa. Assuming the latter, the cycle doesn’t end until we return to our original state. Not by moving back to Africa. Make no mistake, America is now home to millions of American’s who have no knowledge of their mother land. We need to return to the ideals and principles deeply imbedded within us all. Seems that Barack Obama has already reached that location.

For all other Black people who are not Barack Obama now is the time to discover the beginning of our circle. Now is the time to let go of the events along the continuum of the cycle that are not the origin so that we can individually complete our circle. The injustices that affect us all, not just Blacks, should be treated as cyclical and dealt with accordingly and moved beyond. We cannot allow these events to persist. To allow the injustice to persist is to deny our own evolution. For America to heal we must allow ourselves to heal and we can only heal when we follow the natural order of things. Circles must end where they began.

When I was seven years old, Dr. King was my “hero,” as evidenced by all of the essays and book reports I wrote in his memory. Somehow, he is now the hero of my own seven year old son. Is that because Dr. King was such a great leader and heroic figure or is it because there has been no one else to replace him? With the speeches and public accolades heaped on Dr. King during this historic time, I am reminded of how deserving he is of a hero’s treatment, but it also occurs to me that we need more heroes in the African American community. I suspect that by junior high school my son will select president Obama as his hero. But I’d like for him to have more options.

There is no doubt in my mind that the new president will rise to the occasion and resolve our nations economic, security, environmental, healthcare, educational, social, and political woes. I am even more hopeful that his legacy will be his call to service and the challenge for us all to accept personal responsibility. We all know intuitively that if we begin with ourselves we can improve society from the inside out. Let’s do just that. Let us all improve ourselves, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities and our cities. Let’s begin to expect and hold accountable our elected leaders to address the needs of our cities, counties, states and our country in ways that benefit us all. If we do these simple things we will reach our full potential and begin to shed the chains that tie us to the dreadful events of the past.

Slavery is gone and so should the excuse of slavery as a justification for any ill-will or behavior. The memory of slavery will rear its head in our circle of life, but should not be able to breach our circle. Please America, we voted for change, let us now show Obama that we voted for him because of his ideals and vision not because he’s Black.