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By: Andrew Cain
Published: January 20, 2009 5:56 PM
Jim Nolan reports from Washington:
For Tim Reid, Barack Obama’s inauguration was Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream come full circle.
Reid, the activist, documentary filmmaker and actor best known for his portrayal of the character “Venus Flytrap” on the hit sitcom, “WKRP in Cincinnati,” was on the National Mall on Aug. 28, 1963 for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech.
And he was there today for the inauguration of the nation’s first African-American president.
King had said that for people of color, America had defaulted on “a promissory note,” the promise that all men, “black men as well as white men,” would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
“When I listened to that speech as a young freshman at Norfolk State, and (King) said ‘this check has been marked non-sufficient funds’ and that this check has to be paid, he used it as a metaphor for the suffering and the long legacy of disenfranchising of black Americans,” Reid explained.
“And I honestly feel in my heart, that now that check will be marked paid,” said Reid, whose ancestors were sharecroppers descended from slaves. “It’s not so much because of the fact that we have a black president. It’s just the culmination of all (that has happened) in my lifetime…And to have this happen—right here—to me, the check is paid.”
Now the work starts.
“From now on…I intend to get involved, as the president has asked us, on a community level,” Reid said. “And I’m gonna start with a little community I’m in—Petersburg. I don’t know why God put me there, but I’m there and I’m going to do something.”
Obama’s election, said Reid, means that success in America really is about content of character, not the color of one’s skin.
“It can’t be used against us, and we can’t use it as any kind of sword or shield,” he said. “It is laid open. The wound has been cauterized. It is now content of character. Young people have to understand it is about character, black or white,” he added.
“This man got elected because his character content was fully paid—and fully equal to what is required to become president of the United States.”
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