The Man of Tomorrow

King trusted whites to stand up. Obama showed me he was right.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
WashPost
Sunday, November 9, 2008

For the past few months, I've been obsessed with a poorly recorded YouTube clip of the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, giving his blessing to the candidacy of Barack Obama. The clip was recorded on March 4, 2007, at a time when much of the established black leadership was backing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. But Lowery saw in Obama something of his old self -- what he called "good crazy."

"I came over here where crazy things are happening," Lowery told his audience, and then, referring to Obama and the echoes of his own history, added: "There are people in this country who say certain things can't happen, but who can tell? Who can tell? . . . Something crazy may happen in this country."

I'm not a religious man, but I've been enthralled with that sermon since the day I saw it. I posted it on my blog four times. To the chagrin of my partner, I wandered around our house muttering, in a bad imitation of Lowery's Georgia accent, "Crazy things are happening." I woke her up at 5:30 a.m. on Election Day, woke my son, plugged my laptop into the speakers and played the sermon again while I got dressed. When I got home, I posted the clip on my blog again.

At the time Lowery made that speech, I was one of those skeptical African Americans who doubted Obama's national potential. I had always prided myself on being "good crazy," on being a little different. I didn't go to my senior prom; I boycotted my high school graduation. The moment I found writing, I dropped out of college, convinced that I'd discovered my vocation.

(More here.)