Dr. James Smith
City University of Seattle staff, faculty and students gathered to watch President Barack Obama’s televised inauguration ceremony last month at the Bellevue campus. Following the historic event, CityU Alumnus and Faculty Member Dr. James Smith gave a brief speech on his childhood upbringing during the country’s time of racial divide along with his small triumphs on combating segregation as a young adult.
The following is an excerpt of his Jan. 20 speech:
“My grandparents lived along one of the main highways that went through the town…as did many other black families. Across the street from their home was a Dairy Queen, obviously owned by a white family…(The Dairy Queen) was frequented by all the black families who lived in the area. There were signs on the two outside water fountains that identified one as being for whites and one for coloreds, as we were known in those days.
“Each day I would cross the street and loudly proclaim that I didn’t want to buy anything. I was just waiting to see the colored water because it looked the same as the white water to me…The owners eventually took the signs down and my first experience as a rabble rouser and protester was born.”
In his speech Smith- an educator, education consultant and community advocate - also shared his memories of President Obama’s campaign trail highlights, including the moment the world found out who had won last November’s election.
“Many thought that he didn’t have a chance to get very far given his well-known and powerful opponents and the ever-present menace of racism. Like other African-American candidates before him, some thought that he too would run just to raise some important issues. But this candidate was different. This candidate was special. This candidate, while being an African-American, was not an African-American candidate but a candidate for America.”
Smith continues to serve as an advocate for persons of color, most recently as a member of one of several gap study committees appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire, the legislature and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). The committees worked to develop best practices and teaching strategies to narrow the achievement gap for African-American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander and Native American students.
Says Smith: “(If not for) the efforts of Dr. King and others over the years (this) kind of attention and commitment to these diverse students would probably not have taken place.”
Although Smith admits the country still has a difficult road ahead when concerning equality, he concluded his speech with these final, uplifting thoughts:
“First, Obama’s election is a testament to Dr. King’s dream that African-American dreams can be fulfilled. It was also the vision of the Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy that in forty years, the United States of America would have an African-American president.
“These two famous people stand out in my mind but there are countless, thousands of other known and unknown (people), who believed this day would come and they made many sacrifices. (They) demonstrated, protested, went to jail (and) died so that there would be a brighter day in America. They were men and women, black and white, rich and poor, protestant and catholic, Jews and all other categories of folks who believed that change can and would come.
“Second, President Obama’s election means that Americans can make a quantum leap to mature as a nation regarding race. Make no mistake about it; we have not arrived in the promise land.
“Third, our country is changing. The glass ceiling has been cracked and broken into many pieces. This is a new day. It is a good day for all Americans and the world because of what America did on November 4, 2008 and today on January 20, 2009.”