January 20, 2009.

There are very few days when we can say we will see something that literally has never happened before.

Today will be one of them.

Right around noon, in front of a crowd estimated to be in excess of 2 million people, Barack Obama will place his hand on a Bible and be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.

It is a familiar routine, something we have gotten used to. There is the image of John F. Kennedy urging the nation to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

It is a day of pomp and history, an unbroken chain from Washington, Lincoln, to FDR and Eisenhower. In recent years we’ve seen Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and two members of the Bush family.

Of varied backgrounds, they all share one thing. They were all white men.

That changes today.

Barack Obama will literally change the face of the nation when he assumes the office as commander-in-chief.

He becomes the first African American to be elected president.

It is hard to imagine the importance of today’s event. As a person who looks in the mirror every morning and sees a white face staring back at him, the truth is that I probably don’t come close to understanding what this means.

But I know this. Yesterday we celebrated the dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. It was, as he said, “a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream.”

But the truth is that dream was unfulfilled for all too many Americans, simply because of the color of their skin.

King called on the nation to rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.

That starts today.

In the sometimes bitter, divisive debate over race relations in this country, many likely thought this day would never come.

It says something very special about this grand experiment, this United States of America, that we mark this occasion today.

It was a country founded on a simple belief, that all men are created equal.

Never more so than today.

There is much to do, both in fixing the daunting problems the nation faces, and continuing to address the issue of race in America.

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United State won’t change that.

But it damn sure will go a long way toward changing not only our image of ourselves – but the world’s image of us as well.

We remain a beacon, a destination for many, believing it is a country where you can accomplish anything you want.

It is a day to feel good about being an American. Not a white American, not a black American, not any other ethnic denominations that have settled into this melting pot we call the United States of America.

Note that name. United. Never more so than today.