In Memory of Zelma Henderson

In this time when the status quo is being challenged by two people cut from ordinary cloth dare to be extraordinary, we must pay homage to those that paved the way. Zelma Henderson, a plaintiff in the Topeka Brown vs. Board of Ed trial, pass away on Tuesday, May 20, 2008.

Did I previously know about this beautiful woman before her passing? No. Does that by anyway diminish her value and contribution to society? Absolutely not. And still she is due my honor and respect.

Because of her courage to step forward, this country is a far better place than what my grandmother first witnessed as a teenager in Tarboro, North Carolina. Mrs. Henderson’s vision helped to give hope to my grandmother, to her children, her grandchildren, & great grandchildren.

So I say thank you to Zelma Henderson, my grandmother, my parents, and everyone else that sacrificed to provide me the opportunity to say “I Got Next.” In my grandparents life time, they have witnessed an “imperfect union, strive towards perfection.” They have witnessed the realization of the American Dream, a grandson that can graduate college, marry and raise a family, become an entrepreneur, and start a blog that speaks out against injustice as a continuation of their, public and private struggle for equality. I am their American Dream..We are their American Dream.

This is why that regardless of the negativity that surrounds Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, Pastor Jeremiah Wright, or whoever else that rubs our ‘bitter’ compatriots the wrong way, this campaign is bigger than all of them. As Zelma dared to believe…so do I, and so does Barack and the million of believers that scream “Yes We Can.”

I would have never thought that in my life time, a young man born in 1977, that I would see a Black man reach the office of President of the United States of America, but I . This is history. This is the imperfect, perfecting. This is why Zelma, Essie, Lillie, Theodore, Joesph and all of the others who cried, prayed, bled, & fought are honored yesterday, today, tomorrow.

This is why I celebrate Mrs Henderson and why I will shed a tear at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

I Got Next,

RgularJoe