President Bush's recent visit to Goree Island was inspired, amazing, somber, and eloquent.
It addressed far more seriously, than had any trip by an American president, the issue of slavery and the wrongs done by traders who would get wealthy off Americans by stealing the sons and daughters of Africa and sending them from that very point on the passage of "no return."
It was a blanket condemnation of slavery that was more blunt and direct than any president has dared to offer.
Aside from President Abraham Lincoln, I believe George W. Bush's speech in Senegal was the most thoughtful treatise on race and where we are at in the global community on that issue today. And while other presidents have used the Goree Island experience as a photo-op, President Bush used it to make a substantive address about not only wrongs done against an entire continent of people, but which also declared proactive efforts to be made by the U.S. to begin to rectify America's role in the matter.
It was a painful speech. It was a sad confession. But it needed to be done, and in doing so President Bush pointed out some amazing truths:
"Down through the years, African Americans have upheld the ideals of America by exposing laws and habits contradicting those ideals. The rights of African Americans were not the gift of those in authority. Those rights were granted by the Author of Life, and regained by the persistence and courage of African Americans, themselves.
"At every turn, the struggle for equality was resisted by many of the powerful. And some have said we should not judge their failures by the standards of a later time. Yet, in every time, there were men and women who clearly saw this sin and called it by name.
"These men and women, black and white, burned with a zeal for freedom, and they left behind a different and better nation. Their moral vision caused Americans to examine our hearts, to correct our Constitution, and to teach our children the dignity and equality of every person of every race. By a plan known only to Providence, the stolen sons and daughters of Africa helped to awaken the conscience of America."
And one of the most profound:
"The very people traded into slavery helped to set America free."
He didn't stop with the past, however.
"In the struggle of the centuries, America learned that freedom is not the possession of one race. We know with equal certainty that freedom is not the possession of one nation.
"With the power and resources given to us, the United States seeks to bring peace where there is conflict, hope where there is suffering, and liberty where there is tyranny. And these commitments bring me and other distinguished leaders of my government across the Atlantic to Africa.
"African peoples are now writing your own story of liberty. Africans have overcome the arrogance of colonial powers, overturned the cruelties of apartheid, and made it clear that dictatorship is not the future of any nation on this continent. And many visionary African leaders have grasped the power of economic and political freedom to lift whole nations and put forth bold plans for Africa's development.
"Because Africans and Americans share a belief in the values of liberty and dignity, we must share in the labor of advancing those values. In a time of growing commerce across the globe, we will ensure that the nations of Africa are full partners in the trade and prosperity of the world. Against the waste and violence of civil war, we will stand together for peace. Against the merciless terrorists who threaten every nation, we will wage an unrelenting campaign of justice. Confronted with desperate hunger, we will answer with human compassion and the tools of human technology. In the face of spreading disease, we will join with you in turning the tide against AIDS in Africa."
As I played portions of this speech last week on my radio show in New York and Chicago, my phone lines lit up. The divided opinions on the motivation of our president to make such a speech ranged the spectrum.
Some still believe him to be a racist and that, "his entire African policy is smoke and mirrors and designed only to get votes."
Others believed his words but are anxious to see if Congress will appropriate the $15 billion needed to fund the HIV/AIDS package for Africa – something I am strongly in favor of.
As the criticisms were being expressed my thoughts couldn't help but return to pictures in my mind of nightly news stories when President Clinton and the first family also visited Africa. While President Bush spent nearly 1,000 words on the issue of slavery and its implications and confession of sin. President Clinton spent barely 100. And while Bush administration officials toured the Goree Island chambers with the obvious pain that seeing such did bring, President Clinton scurried quickly to shake hands.
And while President Clinton danced with villagers in Africa, 3 million bodies of Rwandan fighters were washed over the waterfalls.
There are some in this nation that would convince you that President Clinton was our "first black president" – a moniker he reveled in constantly. But I believe it is the committed Christian faith of President George W. Bush that allows him to see the ongoing need for racial reconciliation with much more clarity than his predecessor.
And I pray that our president does not lose his "certain kind of fire that no water can put out" until freedom and equality walk hand in hand!