Our Change Has Come: The Widow's Mite
by Rodney Coates*

Back in the mid 1960, Sam Cooke immortalized the song "A Change is Gonna Come", as he contemplates his being...looking ever forward he sings:

I was born by the river
in a little tent
And just like the river,
I've been running ever since
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come.

It's been too hard living,
but I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there
beyond the sky
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come.

I go to the movie, and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me
"Don't hang around"
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come.

Then I go to my brother and I say,
"Brother, help me please"
But he winds up knocking me
back down on my knees.

There've been times that I've thought
I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on.
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come.


Standing in a crowd of thousands one could easily miss the little old lady leaning on a cane. For hours she and they had stood there waiting to just get into the auditorium where Obama would appear. And then the doors opened, and the throng pushed forward almost sweeping her aside. But tenacity and a determination that comes from years of doggedly moving forward through toil, adversity and tragedy stayed her course as she too made her way into the auditorium. Not wanting to get to far down, she chose to sit there along the aisle next to the door. As time passed she fidgeted with her coat, gently placing her gloves into a worn and battered purse. There inside she gingerly pulled out the hand written envelope which simply said Mr. Barack Obama.

Shortly thereafter the noise reached a crescendo as applause, cheers and shouts initiated the arrival of the Presidential candidate. And in he walked with an entourage of secret service guards, personal assistants , campaign officials and oh yes the every beaming, every proud and every smiling Michelle Obama. As they passed, all along the aisle tried to get a picture, shake the hand, or just catch the attention of Barack. The shouts intensified -Barack-the time for change, Barack - the time for change -caused the very bleachers to resonate.

In the midst of all the commotion, either by chance or fate, the little old lady did manage to grab the hand of the man of the moment himself, and into his outstretched hand she placed her envelop. Moments passed, tears welling in her eyes, as he gradually made his way up into the front of an auditorium filled with the jubilation seldom seen in political gatherings.

As Mr Obama began to speak about his hopes for a different kind of world, a different kind of politics, and a much different America –one could feel the crowd surge. He continued to speak of an America not divided by race, class, gender, religious or sexual persuasion, but one where the promise of hope, inclusion, and dreams are extended and available to all.

Barrack told of an America of possibilities not negativities, an America where we judge our progress not in terms of how many failed but how many are encouraged to succeed. This new America, holding such corporate giants as Exxon (who recently posted a 34 billion dollar quarterly profit) would be held accountable to the poor and disenfranchised.

Mr. Obama as president would call for an immediate cessation of the war and bring our soldiers home, work with congress to provide universal health care, fix our broken schools, reinvigorate our failing economy, buttress and infuse capital into the credit and mortgage programs to insure that those caught up in sub-prime loans will not lose their homes.

Yes, this is a campaign about dreams and change, possibilities and potentialities, wonder and hope. Now is the time to make change more than a word or a promise -now is the time to ensure that the change does come.No one will know who that little old lady was. What we do know is that in the envelop she inserted 3 dollar bills and a penny-along with a note "Our change has come".

And while there are those who will talk about the 32 million that Mr. Obama has raised in the last month, none would be more significant then this -widow's mite and her hope for a better America.

*Rodney D. Coates is professor of sociology, gerontology and black world studies at Miami University. He can be reached at coatesrd@muohio.edu.