If not these, then who? If not now, when?

Marsha K. Hardeman

Are you as amazed as I am, to hear so many people, particularly from minority communities, question or balk at the idea that our nation is ‘ready,' yet, to elect and follow the leadership of a qualified, educated, experienced, knowledgeable candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America? ‘Why?' I have to ask, are these questions surfacing when the top two candidates in this national, political race are a Black man or a woman? Why is that?

As discussions are evolving and speculation is swirling around all our conversations, at home, at work, and throughout the community, I have had to smile and think of the irony: Aren't these very opportunities at the core of the dreams shared, fought for-- even for which some have died, to make these possibilities real for Black people? Are not these the same hopes for which so many stood steadfast on their convictions of Constitutional rights and sacrificed their personal safety, alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the decades of our evolving Civil Rights Movement, here in America? Are not these the same hopes of the trailblazers of the Women's Movement, from the 1800's, including famous orator, suffragette and ex-slave, Sojourner Truth?

So, why would we even think to ask, “Why?” Why not be excited about those hopes realized?

While some of us are still questioning, “Is America ready for a Black man or a woman to lead our nation?” we must remember that every step forward in this national exercise of our rights as American citizens is another confirmation of our commitment to total equality in our nation, our “…liberty and justice for all.” While some of us are saying, “I don't want to see another assassination; I don't want them to risk such harm,” we must remember that every victorious movement, even on the battlefield, fraught with dangerous mines, requires that we remain prayerful, and hopeful, that such risk is often the pathway to success, the attainment of new and higher heights.

So, why would we even think to ask, “Why the risk?” After all…have we not heard? ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.'

Have we so quickly forgotten how proud our ancestors would be, after all they have sacrificed, endured, prayed for? Do we remember that they've dreamed, hoped, and even demanded, as their natural rights of citizenship, no longer as 3/5 of a person, but, whole, to be valued and respected, ‘equal enough' to earn the entitlement of every American citizen, aged 35 or older, to dare to dream, to dare to aspire--- to dare to lead this nation? Why wouldn't we think it a natural path for such as these who are qualified, educated, experienced, knowledgeable and courageous enough to rise to the call and the occasion to become candidates for election to the highest office in the land?

If not these candidates, then, who? If not now, when?