‘This Is Your Legacy’

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Dear Great Grandfather Booker T. Washington,
In the more than 90 years since you have been gone, your vision is just beginning to be realized. Education has not always been a priority along the way and distractions have often delayed our goals of economic independence. Your guidance and that of role models promoting strength of character have been missed within our communities. That may be changing today however. You demonstrated yourself that "character is power" and today a man of African descent will become the most powerful leader in the world. 

I was raised upon the principles of your character carried forth by my mother, your granddaughter, Nettie Hancock Washington. She taught me about the pride and perseverance demonstrated to her by the man who raised himself "Up From Slavery." She taught me about the value of dedication that she learned from you after giving your life to education and founding what is now Tuskegee University. She taught me about the compassion that came from your desire to see a downtrodden race of people succeed. (And how proud you would have been to see her marry the great grandson of your hero, Frederick Douglass!)

What we have missed since you've been gone is guidance and discipline. A culture of irresponsibility has left a large percentage of single mothers alone in caring for their children. Even with government assistance or working long hours, single-parent families live in virtual poverty. Our young people are often raised by the rules of the streets succumbing to drugs and violence as a means of survival. Prisons are full of African American youth who have been shown few options and chose the most expedient to their needs. Role models, until now, have mostly glorified negative images of this lifestyle to prove that we are no longer victims but somehow masters of our fate. I believe our fortunes have changed, however, as a new leader has arrived.

Barack Obama gives us hope. Although, he has been embraced by the majority of Americans after his historic run for president and people across the globe have hailed him as the next great world leader, Obama is a special gift to those young African American children who have found options so hard to come by. They will now know that working hard within a system can yield the highest rewards. Parents can take heart that there is a way to escape the cycle of despair. It's a time to believe that dreams can finally come true.

Thank you for being such a strong role model to me.

With all my love and admiration,
Nettie [Nettie Douglass]
Atlanta

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Dear Great Great Grandfather Booker T. Washington, 
Although you have been gone for nearly a century, your words are as important now as they have ever been. They speak directly to the man who will become president as he looks to raise a nation. And, even more personally, they speak to me as I embark upon a new path in my life. "If you want to lift yourself up," you said, "lift up someone else."

The job of a president is, in a sense, to lift up the citizens of this country. Of course, one man can't lend a hand to 300 million people, but he can wisely create the mechanisms and provide the leadership that will lift us all.

This is your legacy, Booker T. Washington. You built Tuskegee Institute from the ground and gave freed slaves the skills they would need to succeed in a new world. I have read many of the letters in which you humbled yourself repeatedly to raise the funds needed to keep your institution alive. How many thousands; how many tens of thousands have passed through the gates of Tuskegee prepared to build a successful life for themselves and for their families? This is the legacy that feeds my own dreams.

I want to help inspire a movement. I want to motivate a generation using your words and those of Frederick Douglass. I want the world to know that millions are still enslaved and that we must amass the strength to free them. I want to help restore the dignity, the humanity of these girls and boys; of these women and men who have been treated like no animal should be treated. I want to lift up someone else. This is your legacy and, in the future, when my daughters are asked what their father did, I want it also to be mine.

Barack Obama has lifted the hopes of millions of Americans like no one else has during my lifetime. You would be proud of his steady temperament and pragmatic approach to the challenges he has faced thus far. You may even admit that his character resembles yours in many ways; a fact that leads us to believe he will make a great leader.

There will be sweeping changes in the years to come in a world that would already be unrecognizable to you. (Although I know you were a true American Visionary and your goals will be realized one day) But we still remember the wisdom of your words and the example of your actions as we set out to remodel America's vision of a compassionate social structure. This is your contribution. This is your legacy, Booker T. Washington.

With all my love,
Kenny [Kenneth B. Morris Jr.]
Corona, Calif.