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A New Kind of Leadership

Deval Patrick, sworn in last week as the first Black Governor of Massachusetts and the second Black Governor in U.S. history, took the oath of office on a Bible given to John Quincy Adams by Africans from the Amistad slave ship whom Adams had helped free.

From the Boston Globe:

"This Bible is a quintessential American symbol, one of democracy, and the inner workings of freedom, and our system of laws, and the abolitionist movement, and it represents a real victory for Africans who stood up for themselves," said Beverly A. Morgan-Welch , the executive director of the Museum of African American History and a cochair of Patrick's inauguration committee.

"The Bible was given to Adams by these freed African men because they so appreciated that Adams was not just their legal advocate, but he believed in their freedom, and here we are, how many years later, and we are installing Massachusetts' first African-American governor," Morgan-Welch said.

This Bible is exactly the kind of symbol that our movement so desperately needs right now. The fact that Mr. Patrick brought it into his innauguration story shows that he is the kind of leader we need -- unafraid and unapologetic around our country's need to focus on racial and social justice.

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