On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, our world in the U.S. changed forever. Only a few days ago our country began the long, hard passage from a country of despair to a country of hope. Can and will Obama truly “change” the U.S. and correspondingly, the world? Certainly that it is too much to expect of one human being but it is, at least, the beginning of a nation united, one where the citizens have the will and desire to work together. As our new President reminded us at the beginning of his historic Amtrak ride from Philadelphia to D.C. (with a stop over in Wilmington, Delaware to honor and pick up Joe Biden, his and our new Vice President), America was started by a group of individuals who had one idea in mind: freedom and the inclusion of all citizens of the U.S. in this new country. This first band of rebels (for rebels they were in 1776) had no idea where their future would take them. They knew that they were fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds but they had the will, heart and perhaps even the stupidity to think they would and could succeed in the founding of a new nation. Over two hundred years later we know that they succeeded, for America is still standing, albeit on shaky economic ground.

As President Obama takes on challenges equally great if not greater than those faced by our forefathers and founders, he does so with the knowledge that the dreams of these men have been deepened by the realized dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. who stated:

 I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

The contrast between the civil rights movement in the ‘60s and the events of January 19, 2009 as our first African American president took office surrounded not by protesters, police and hatred but rather by secret service agents and crowds of well-wishers, eager for our new President to attempt to take us out of the dark ages of political, racial, economic and ethnic despair, could not be greater. On this date, our country carried over the hopes and dreams of the Reverend King to the hopes and dreams of our Latino community. Perhaps now our community can look forward to the politics not of isolationism and ethnic hatred but rather the politics of inclusion. Perhaps in this new inclusive atmosphere, when Americans are willing to look at qualifications rather than the color of skin, those in Norristown, South Philly, Long Island and other areas where the Latino community has been attacked and faced with daily stares and words of hatred that no human being should be forced to hear or bear, will be recognized for their hard work, contributions and love of their adopted country.

Perhaps, just perhaps, these politics of inclusion will include all. If Obama can accomplish this our forefathers will smile and America will return to its origins of hope and expectation.