How Far Have We Come?

That question has been asked my many over and over the past week.

And I'm not sure the answer is readily accessible.

Watching the television, reading the papers these past few days, there is no question this is a moment of significant import.

The intertwining of history, the celebration of a man who was one of the great men of letters, faith and thought in his time, as well as that of the man who would be president.

The fulfillment of a dream not even Martin Luther King, Jr., might have believed possible within 80 years of his birth.

The hope and optimism that surrounds Barack Obama, as he made his train trip from Philadelphia to Washington, as he celebrated in front of the Lincoln Memorial, as he took the oath for the highest office in the land, was surreal and overwhelming.

Don't see that much in Washington, and for good reason. Can anybody remember the last incoming President who evoked such emotion?

Is it possible that the prophetic words of Martin Luther King when he pronounced he had been to the Promised Land and seen the arrival of his people have truly come to pass?

And at the same time, color still matters and two recent incidents give one pause about just how far civil rights have come in this country.

There is a man of color who in my experience embraces the concept of helping out his fellow man. A woman down her luck, who he knew only in passing, approaches one day and asks for a loan to help put a roof over her head. An abusive man has driven her from her home, she says, and she is desperate.

The man lends a hand while telling her to get off the streets and to a better situation. It is who he is, a man who extends a hand whenever possible. A man the community knows based on the content of his character.

When the woman repays she writes a check made out to him which he cashes. The check is from his bank. He knows the drill, presenting his identification card at the bank and knowing if there is no money in the account, he's been taken.

No attempt to hide anything.

The check clears. The name at the bottom of the check is not the one he thought was the lady's he had helped, or thought he knew, but only knowing her in passing, he cashes the check giving little second thought.

Turns out the check was stolen. Turns out the name on the check are not hers. Turns out he, and somebody else, have been victimized. This all comes to his attention from another person who knows him well, who knows what makes up the content of his character.

So, on his own he contacts the authorities. There seems to be a problem here, he alerts them, and he wants to straighten it out.

Is the next logical step, after a brief conversation with an officer, the silver bracelets and straight to jail, booked on $2,500 bond for uttering a forged instrument when all he did was cash a check made out to him, given as repayment for assistance?

 Should that arrest have taken place bypassing the State Attorney's examination of the validity of the case? Should that charge be based on my having cashed a check made out to him when, if theft was his aim, he could have simply made the check out to "cash" and nobody would be the wiser?

Would every resident of Port St. Joe, rich or poor, black or white, been treated similarly? Were other factors in play, such as a long and sometimes troubling history of race relations and the willingness of too many to paint with a broad brush based on factors beyond the intricacies of the law?

Say a community is celebrating the inauguration of a man bringing with him new promise and new hope, offering that hope to those of who have too long been treated as second-class citizens.

That celebration is loud and it is proud, to echo a famous song from the 1960's, and maybe it lasts well into the night and maybe there are some things going on that might firmly push the envelope of legality, but what is Times Square on New Year's Eve but a party celebrated on varying sides of the line of legality.

But that celebration is brought to a halt in a manner that doesn't meet the interpretation of the twin concepts of protect and serve.

People are, for lack of a better way of phrasing, put in their place and told to go home. This is done by officers on foot and with a tone and attitude that no man or woman of this country should be subjected to, particularly since this was a celebration, almost a street dance.

And I wonder if that dance was taking place on Reid Avenue in 2000 and the community was celebrating the election of President George Bush. Would that attitude, that tone of voice, that demonstration of force - that demonstration of at times open disdain - have been the same?

So I watch the television and read the paper and I observe the activity in my own community and I can't help wondering about a question based on deeds, not words, in actions not language.

How far have we really come? How far have we really left history behind?

Painful as it is, there is a certain gut feeling that just because the majority of Americans chose a man of color to be President does not mean the issue of color, and the judgment of men and women based not on skin tone but the content of their character, has been completely left in the rearview mirror.