Reverend Lowery Embraces Color in Benediction
By David Carty-- 1/20/09The concept of race was a talking point through Barack Obama's run to Presidential office and Reverend Joseph Lowery, a civil rights pioneer, was not about to leave it out of Inauguration Day.
When the 87 year-old Lowry delivered the benediction at Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration, he quoted from the annals of African-American history and offered a shining viewpoint on the future of equality in the United States.
Lowery opened the benediction with the third verse of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," also known as "The Negro National Anthem," a James Weldon Johnson poem-turned-song written at the turn of the 20th century. The song became an anthem for equality during the Civil Rights movement, sometimes being sung after "The Star Spangled Banner."
"God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way," the poem began, as did Lowery, and finished with "Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand -- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land."
Lowery asked for blessings for the Obama family and guidance in what he coined the "complex arena of human relations."
The most notable part of the benediction was its conclusion which played off the theme of color in what he called a "new beginning." "We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around," Lowery said, interrupted by the laughter of the remaining crowd, the newly-elected President included. He continued to bring the house down with "when yellow will be mellow," and "when the red man can get ahead, man" before ending with a more pointed reference "and when white will embrace what is right."
His last cry united the crowd in prayer "Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen," he said, with the crowd responding in kind.
Three years ago Lowery spoke at Coretta Scott King's funeral, with mixed response due to some politically charged comments. The NCAAP has also called him the "dean of the civil rights movement" and has honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.