"God of our weary years, God of our silent tears. Thou who has brought us this far along the way," is the Negro National Anthem's drumbeat for the many heroic African Americans who made the way for African American progress. One great man was General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., USAF (Retired), the first Black General, who died last month. A fellow native of Washington, D.C., he helped pave the way not only for all Black military officers, but for those African Americans who made the highest rank of four star general, such as Colin L. Powell, USA (Retired); Daniel "Chappie" James, USAF (Retired); Lester Lyles, USAF; Bernard Randolph, USAF (Retired); Roscoe Robinson, Jr., USA (Retired); and Lloyd "Fig" Newton, USAF (Retired). Proud that I attended Washington's Charles Young Platoon Elementary School, named after America's first Black Colonel, her had no hesitation to remind me of the racism and struggles he had to overcome, even as a General. His father was Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., the nation's first Black General in the US Army.

Another type of soldier, after 60 years of fighting the battle of civil rights for African Americans, Dr. Arthur Fletcher stepped down from his last battle position of 10 years as Chairman of the Board of the National Black Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. He earned the title, "The Father of Affirmative Action," when as Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Nixon, he implemented our government's affirmative action program known as the Philadelphia Plan. But "to have brought us this far" he had lost most of his intestine during an operation after a sniper wounded him in World War II. Yet, he went on to college to become an All American football player, a PhD and a lawyer. He was the first Black football player for the Baltimore Colts. As the last living plaintiff of the 1954 Supreme Court School Decision, represented by Thurgood Marshall, he bears the memory of the pain of being driven out of Kansas to San Francisco where his wife could no longer stand the racial hatred and retaliation from the lawsuit, jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. "God of our weary years, God of our silent tears."

Another kind of "soldier" that will be missed is the lone Black Republican in Congress, Oklahoma Representative J.C. Watts, Jr. While Watts has been conservative on various African American issues and is often accused of shielding a racist/anti-affirmative action Republican Party, he practically single handed blocked his Party's demise of affirmative action at the Federal level when the anti-affirmative action Dole-Canady Bill was introduced in Congress in 1996. "Black folks must play both sides of the fence, remembering that we had a Republican President when the slaves were freed, affirmative action implemented, the Minority Business Development Agency established and Colin Powell promoted to a four star general," states Oakland Retired Colonel Conway B. Jones, Jr. a highly decorated veteran of 87 combat missions in the Viet Nam War. Jones' son, Eric, was awarded the US Medal of Valor for his actions following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Yes, the weary years and silent tears "have brought us this far."