Banner on the mall says it all: We have overcome

A banner held up at Tuesday's inauguration of President Barack Obama caught my eye as the television camera panned across the mall. It said: "We Have Overcome."

What greater proof could be asked for to show that the refrain of that civil rights anthem had at last been achieved? A black man had been inaugurated president of the United States, bolstered by the votes of, yes, the vast majority of African-American voters but also by a clear majority of white voters. As police and state troopers turned fire hoses, police dogs and clubs on protesters in the early 1960s, the demonstrators responded by singing "We shall overcome ... someday." For the martyrs of the civil rights demonstrations and their heirs — and indeed for all Americans — "someday" came on Jan. 20, 2009. The promise, the hope, the dream has been fulfilled in a time far earlier than most veterans of that era could have imagined. Barack Obama will not wipe out all vestiges of racism, ill will and unfairness ("Life is unfair" was one of President Kennedy's favorite sayings), but his achievement proves that legal segregation and societal prejudices cannot hold back a determined, persistent and talented leader.

That banner on the mall showed how far we have come, appropriately taking racial equality out of the future tense and into the present.