Jonetta Rose Barras, The Examiner
2008-01-31 08:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Truthfully, nothing in 1968 was inspirational or cause for hope. There was every reason to be depressed — seriously, certifiably depressed. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated that year. Cities exploded in riots. African-American progress toward social, economic and political power halted — at least temporarily.

The nation’s visible, gaping wound hadn’t been properly bandaged, to say nothing of healed, when Robert Kennedy, campaigning for president in Los Angeles, was shot down. A heavy darkness descended over the country.

It was far darker in the Desire Public Housing Project where I lived. A collection of red-brick, two-story garden-style apartments, the complex stretched over four acres. Railroad tracks and an open sewer canal boxed in everyone and everything. The voices of children and the innocent never fully escaped their throats. Too often, the streets were a cacophony of bored teens, unemployed men and stressed-out single mothers. In such an environment, dreams and hopes were endangered species.

I had the advantage of leaving daily for a few hours to attend John McDonogh #35 Senior High School. There were other students whose neighborhoods were equally disturbing. One classmate was an exotic dancer by night and an honor student by day. Others were from healthy, wholesome homes and families; their influence, in hindsight, was invaluable.

Thoughts that change was possible came when someone suggested “The Impossible Dream” as our class song. When I read the lyrics by Joe Darion, they resonated with me: “To fight the unbeatable foe//To bear the unbearable sorrow//And to run where the brave dare not go//To right the unrightable wrong. ...”

Even now, when doubts or seemingly insurmountable obstacles confront me, I reach for that song; I am emboldened, empowered.

All of this comes to sit with me as I reflect on the state of the country, more specifically the presidential campaign of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Some say he reminds them of a young Rev. King; others see him as Kennedyesque — sometimes in the image of former President John F. Kennedy, sometimes more like his younger, passionate, fiery brother Bobby.

By 1969, some Americans, particularly blacks, began hanging their photographs on the wall, like a holy trinity. Everyone longed for the return of hope that once infected the country. That yearning was on display earlier this week as thousands came to American University to see Obama receive endorsements from members of the Kennedy clan.

Despite some admirable leadership since the deaths of King and the two Kennedys, there has been a dearth of individuals capable of inspiring, gathering and uniting people across the artificial, but seemingly impenetrable, boundaries of race, class and age. And so, understandably, there is much excitement surrounding Obama. He reminds us that the impossible dream is still quite possible, if we only “be true to that glorious quest. ...”

Jonetta Rose Barras is the political analyst for WAMU radio’s D.C. “Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta.”