This Black History Month we take time to celebrate and remember our past by giving thanks to those who have contributed and sacrificed to bring us to where we are today. I want to take this time to honor our former President, President Barack Obama. I am so grateful for his service as President. I think he is the embodiment of Dr. King's dream. He understood the dream, he believed the dream and he is lived the dream. Thank you President Obama. This is my tribute to you.
As President of the United States, you showed the nation what it was like to have a President with conviction, honor and integrity. You demonstrated to the nation your belief in the term, "By the people, for the people."
I still remember that day back in 2008, when you became America's first Black President. I still feel the significance of that day, My eyes still fill with tears when I recall the image of Americans, of all colors standing together as you took office. You see, as a child of the sixties it represented so much for me. Most of all, it represented the fulfillment of Martin's dream, a dream I never thought I would live to see fulfilled. You gave me the ability to believe in man's ability to reach beyond the barrier of race.
Thank you for forging us back on a path to freedom, justice and equality for all. It has been a rocky road filled with set backs, but because of you I still believe that we can continue on the path you have blazed for this nation.
Just like Martin, you have taken us to the mountain top. You pointed and "we ran up." You are no longer able to continue as our leader but because of you, we can continue the climb with the hope and the audacity to believe that, no matter who we are or where we are from, we can live the American dream.