Urban Thought Collective

Of the countless sights that overwhelmed my emotions during President Barack Obama’s inaugural celebrations none touched me as uniquely as a handmade sign held up by an anonymous black man in the middle of the vast crowd on the Washington mall. It was a nondescript piece of brown cardboard with a simple slogan written in black marker: “Brother’s Gonna Work It Out.”

Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s we used to say “Brothers Gonna Work It Out,” meaning that black men, the brothers, collectively, are going to work it out. It was a call for peace unified action; our way of saying that we would reach out to one another across the dividing lines of class, age, geography, educational level and even street affiliations to resolve our differences and work together for the betterment of our families and communities. That was, and continues to be, a beautiful concept. “Brothers Gonna Work It Out.”

But my man who held up the sign during the Inauguration modified that slogan to make a different statement – one equally beautiful and defining of this towering moment in history. By inserting an apostrophe between the R and S in “brothers,” he modified the call for unity among all black men to an expression of confidence in one particular black man. The apostrophe changes the plural “brothers” to the contraction “brother’s” as in “brother is.” Instead of “the brothers are going to work it out,” the handwritten cardboard sign declared that this one brother — Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States – is going to work it out!

Brother Barack’s going to work it out because he’s brilliant, calm, confident, prepared and has a plan. He’ll work it out because he has the vision to see possibilities within crises. He’ll work it out because he has the intellect to analyze challenges and develop solutions, the courage to try new methods and the fortitude to see things through. Equally important is his humility, genuine desire to work with others and his special talent for motivating people to give their very best to a task. He’ll work it out because he’s the ultimate team captain. He’ll join the creativity, vision, intellect and skill of others with his own and he’ll get us all working together to solve our country’s problems. He’ll work it out because he loves our diversity and sees the United States — and, indeed, the world – as a community bound together by common hopes, aspirations and needs. He’ll work it out because tells it like it is. He’s honest with us about the challenges we face and about the hard work that will be required to meet those challenges. But he also reassures us that, because we have prevailed in the past, we will prevail in the present.

Barack Obama is the right man at the right time in history. The whole world is blessed to have him in the White House. Ultimately, the Brother’s Gonna Work It Out because of who he is and because he will bring out the best in all of us.

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.

THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!

Cameron Turner is a Los Angeles-area native whose editorials, entertainment news features and audio documentaries have appeared on national radio networks, online and in print for over 20 years.