At the Congressional Black Caucus: President Obama is Fired Up Over Injustice

This past Sunday, President Obama gave an enlightening speech at the 43rd Phoenix Award dinner for the CBC (Congressional Black Caucus). 

The President and his wife graced the stage in their appropriate black and white outfits, and as usual the President hugged and kissed his wife -- dismissing her from the stage so he could get down to business. 

Obama's words which stood out to me were: "In order to get past the enduring legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, we've got to make it easier for every American to earn their piece of the American pie."

"We all understand we have to be vigilant against any attempt to roll back our hard won Civil Rights, whether that means tearing down barriers put up by those who seek to restrict the right to vote, or making sure our criminal justice system works fully well for all not just some."

And my absolute favorite: "We've got to pick up the torch of economic justice, we have to make this a country where anybody who works hard can earn their way into the middle class. And until we do, we will not let up and we will not rest, no matter how much resistance we get. We will keep on pressing forward. Because it's good for America, it's the right thing to do."

Abolishing slavery was absolutely the right thing to do and yet there always remained a few, who secretly wished for the status quo. Always a few, more interested in the art of oppression than liberation. Powerful entities have only grown more powerful through the passing decades. 

From the abolishing of slavery in 1865 up until 1965, an entire century later black people gained equal protection  for Voting Rights and Civil Rights; the right to be treated like a human being and not an animal. 

And from 1965 to our present day of 2013, as Mr. Lowery stated at this year's March on Washington "everything has changed and nothing has changed." 

Yes, our black and white televisions became colorful. Yes, our clothing and furniture styles became more modern. Yes, our rectangular heavy cell phones became compact, wallet size pieces of digital media art. And yes, during these wonderful transitions in time, the rich got richer while the poor got poorer.

Our brutal American past couldn't be replicated in the future; it wouldn't be tolerated. So instead the brutality plays out in places which hurt minorities the most; employment. Without a living wage it's impossible for an individual to survive, let alone an entire family. Financial insecurity is the number one killer of life. Unaffordable health care, unhealthy food products, low income housing only, high crime, unhealthy atmospheres due to depressive states, and giving up any hope for good to come.

This is the economic injustice of which President Obama speaks, and this injustice must change. Poverty could be lessened if the opposition compromised, but since compromise doesn't seem to work all that well in Congress these days, the American people must continue to vote out the extremists we've allowed to run our house for way to long.

2013 LA