When I was 16, I was on a track team that did a 30-day European tour. This weekend, I attended the 50-year reunion of the 1975 South Side Striders! We had great conversations about our fun in Europe 49 years ago and the many paths our lives took through college and careers. So many have become educators and coaches. We realized the influence our great coaches had on us. We appreciated rubbing shoulders with the world-class athletes we met and experiencing their work ethic. But life has happened to us all as well. We’ve had marriages and divorces, the decline and death of parents, and even the loss of children. Some of our team members are no longer with us.
1975 was the apex of a difficult 10 years in our country. As a nation, we’d just come out of the Vietnam War in 1973. President Nixon resigned in 1974. Saigon fell in April of 1975. In 1973, there was a gas embargo, and cars circled the block to try to fill up. Inflation peaked at 20%!
As an African American, I have an additional layer of history. The Civil Rights Movement ended in 1968 with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In response, Chicago and other major cities went up in flames. There was serious talk of revolution and a race war. During that time, some believed in giving up on this experiment called America.
After Dr. King’s assassination, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions recorded the song “This is My Country.” The hook sticks with me even today. They sang:
Some people think we don’t have the right
to say this is my country.
I’ve paid three hundred years or more
of slave-driving, sweat, and welts on my back.
This is my country.
Living through the 1960s and 1970s has given me perspective. While in Europe, we proudly wore USA on our jerseys and jackets. Things were difficult back home, and it was a messy time. However, we represented something greater than a moment in history, and we ran for the USA.
Today, 50 years later, we are in messy times again. Our divided nation is consumed with fear, and some believe our worst nightmare has come to pass. After the election, I discovered some wisdom nuggets that helped me stay focused. David French, writer for the New York Times, provided insight when he wrote, “We should defend the vulnerable and speak the truth.” I also found help in the film Conclave. We are told, “The church is not the past. The church is what we do next.”
I still declare that this is my home and my government, and I will continue to work to make it what it should be. This is my country.
Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard
