By BRIAN LEWIS
Hours after President Barack Obama’s inauguration _ after an African-America became the leader of the free world and brought Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream the closest it has ever been to reality _ several Knicks were still trying to process a day they never thought they’d see.
From point guard Chris Duhon _ who got to know President Obama from Chicago pickup games _ to ex-Knick Cal Ramsey, who was at Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech, they sat back and reflected on the scope of President Obama’s victory, and what it means.
“My best friend (Reggie Love) works for him, so I talked to him all the time. I followed him running for president, and I knew it was something that was very possible, realistic. (But) now that it’s happened, it’s hard to put into words,” said Duhon, who politely declined an invitation to the inauguration so he could practice today.
But he said the insight he gained into President Obama during their meetings and pickup games give him faith that the country is in good hands.
“I’m very excited about him being president. I got an opportunity to meet him on as regular level where he could just be himself; and talk to him on a personal level, not about politics or sports, but just him as a person. From what I’ve learned there, I’m very excited that he’s going to lead the country.
“He has a vision, just like Dr. King had a vision for us; and just as (Dr. King’s) dream is starting to unfold before our very eyes, I know Barack is going to do the same thing for us.”
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Ramsey saw Dr. King’s vision of change first-hand; as well as the Jim Crow south that was in dire need of changing. The 71-year-old was born in Selma, Alabama, site of Dr. King’s three marches to Montgomery.
“As a kid growing up, when I went to the movies I had to go around the back. When I went to the bus station, I had to go through a separate door,” Ramsey said. “Now, we’ve reached the day where we have an Africa-American president. It’s wonderful. I never thought I’d see the day.”
Ramsey played seven games for the Knicks in 1959-60 season, but saw racial quotas against blacks and an eventual knee injury end his career.
But years later, at the behest of friend Wilt Chamberlain, he traveled to Washington, D.C. for Dr. King’s historic speech on the mall. He remembers being moved, but never dreamt he would live to see the promise of that dream fulfilled _ until yesterday’s inauguration.
“(Chamberlain) asked me to come down to the march on Washington,” Ramsey said. “It was a hot day, a packed day, a wonderful speech. We enjoyed it very much; but I had no idea Dr. King would be so prophetic about reaching the promised land, and some day things would change. And here we have an African-American president. It’s wonderful.”
Forward Jared Jeffries is far too young to remember segregation; but yesterday he recalled how he lost two uncles in Mississippi to violence; one hung by the Klan, and another killed by a police sheriff. And Jeffries said President Obama is a living, breathing testament to progress.
“My dad’s uncle was killed. The sheriff just walked in and took him. It was part of life in Mississippi; the law enforcement was corrupt, the Klan was still very strong. You had a lot of families that were affected by that. That happened a lot, and there were no consequences,” Jeffries said. “That’s how far this country has come.
“I talked to my dad all through the (race). My dad grew up in Mississippi, was a sharecropper and picked cotton by hand when he was young. For the world to come as far as it’s come just during his generation, and to see a black president in his lifetime, it’s incredible. For people of my father’s generation to see this moment is incredible.”
Jeffries, Duhon and Malik Rose were at Planet Hollywood for a Garden of Dreams Foundation event for the inauguration and Monday’s MLK Day. They worked with 30 foster children, and Rose said while he grew up never expecting to see this day, President Obama’s win proves to these at-risk youth that they truly can be whatever they want.
“It’s a huge day for al of us. It’s a great time in world history,” Rose said. “It makes a huge difference to (these kids). I’m a 34-year-old man, and it’s made a difference in my life. These are foster children, in homes. (Now) nothing is too far-fetched. Anybody can make it. President Obama instills such hope that you can achieve anything.”