...Worth a Thousand Words

The video of the signing ceremony got a lot of attention, as did everything in it.  But I think one particular moment wasn't given the perspective of the impact that I think it will have.  And that's when Joe Biden left the podium to walk down to the stage and knelt to talk with 94-year-old Opal Lee, who had been a driving force to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

As I said, it did get attention as a very nice moment.  But I have the sense that the President of the United States going over to kneel down in front of an elderly Black woman out of respect could have almost the same impact (almost...) in the Black community as did Lyndon Johnson saying "And we shall overcome."

Certainly, Joe Biden has great support from Black voters.  He was Vice President (and became very close friends) to the first Black man to be President of the United States.  Also, that support is how he won the South Carolina primary, which kept his presidential hopes alive and ultimately pushed him to win the White House.  And then he named a Black woman to be his running mate, and ultimately she became the first Black person to be elected as Vice President.  So, the support is already there.

But those are all actions.  Certainly great and important actions -- and we are defined by our actions -- but they're actions nonetheless.  On the other hand, this is "A Moment."  And moments are what become iconic.  

It may not be remembered as iconic everywhere.  But most especially at a time where the Black Lives Matter has come to prominence, a movement that at its foundations want to get nothing more than respect -- saying in a simple word that we "matter" -- the U.S. President coming from his podium to kneel down out of respect for what a 94-year-old Black woman has accomplished because it's too difficult for her to stand for him, is about an impactful an image for a community saying that our lives matter as there is.