• Aprill Brandon •
• Originally published January 20, 2009 at 10:22 p.m., updated January 20, 2009 at 10:22 p.m.

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

In those warm, late-March days of 1965, as I was finishing up my tech schooling in the Air Force in Montgomery, Ala., it never occurred to me that I was positioned in the middle of history, and witnessing some of the most momentous social events of the 20th century.

No, my mind was on finishing my medic training and getting home to family and friends. I confess, I was not fully aware of the scope of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s fight for equality, or the brutality he and his followers were enduring as they tried to march from Selma to Montgomery.

All they really wanted was a fair and equal voice at the polls - the right to vote without infringements or obstacles placed in their path.

But there were those who would bloody them, even kill them, to prevent that.

Nevertheless, with Dr. King at their head, they got to the state capital in Montgomery on March 25, with military troops sent to protect them.

Those troops were sent to Gunter Air Force Base, where I was, to clean up and rest after the march ended. And they left with our showers in a mess, but history to share with their grandkids.

It was an ugly mood that pervaded the streets of Montgomery in those days. I wasn't fully aware of the reasons for it, but it was palpable in its hateful strength.

Blacks and whites, it seemed, couldn't even be civil to each other, and they bumped shoulders on the streets of downtown Montgomery, and spewed ugly words at each other.

Fast forward a mere 43 years, and look at what we saw on Tuesday - an African-American taking the oath of office and taking his seat in the Oval Office as truly the most powerful man in the world and the commander-in-chief of the most awesome military machine ever built on Earth.

Still, despite the historical aspect of his swearing in, Barack Obama now faces some of the most serious financial problems in this country since the Great Depression of 80 years ago, and a powder keg of hatred seething in the Middle East and threatening to become much larger.

He needs our support and our prayers. Whether you voted for him or not, pray that God gives him the wisdom and the shows him the way, because he is our president.

Jim Bishop is a senior editor for the Advocate. Leave him a message at 361-574-1210 or jbishop@vicad.com or comment on this column at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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