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Nov 1, 2009 9:36 pm US/Eastern
Lincoln's Legacy Remembered At Miami Town Hall
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
He is a giant of American history and his voice came alive once again Sunday at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. Community leaders gathered in front of an audience for a program called, "Lincoln, Miami and The American Dream." It is one of eleven Lincoln town halls being held across the country in the bicentennial year of the birth of our 16th president.
Miami Republican congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart said, "His essence is above all we preserve the nation and the rule of law." Lincoln is considered by many to be the nation's greatest president, the leader who ended slavery and preserved the Union through the bloody years of the Civil War. His life is a monument to ideals of liberty, freedom and equality. Town hall participants said Lincoln would see one of the world's most diverse communities in Miami, and a work in progress when it comes to equality and opportunity.
Haitian advocate Gepsie Metellus said, "Abraham Lincoln's achievements, tremendous as they were, constitute the first leg of a relay race toward a more perfect union." That work goes on today in our community, sometimes smoothly, sometimes contentiously. Lincoln certainly would have understood those struggles said Harvard University African-American Studies professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. He told the audience that Lincoln, for all his greatness, had his contradictions too. He ended slavery, Gates said, but often struggled with the concept of racial equality, and once considered the feasibility of shipping freed slaves out of the country.
Gates said, "I think he can inspire schoolchildren and all of us if we know how flawed he was, how he wrestled with his own demons and conquered them."
Greatness and human foibles, all mixed together. That all too human picture of a towering figure is part of the Lincoln legacy, too. It's one worth remembering for a 21st century community working everyday—however imperfectly—toward a better future for all of its citizens.
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