A Beautiful Call for Civil Rights and Humanity

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administers
the oath of office to President Barack Obama
during the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony
at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 21, 2013.
(Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)

Tempered by calls to recognize the humanity of those who deny this station to our fellow countrymen and women, the 2013 Inauguration of President Obama will live as a call for civil rights.

The language of President Barack Obama's Second Inaugural Address and those speaking on January 21, 2013 evoke King, RFK, and the best that America has offered the world.

"The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great," said President Obama. ...

"We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths –- that all of us are created equal –- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth."