END OF AN ERA IN AMERICAN POLITICS
by Eric K. Williams

President Barack Obama, Left, with the late Massachusetts Senator, Edward Moore (Ted) Kennedy, April 21, 2009 in Washington, D.C. at a bill signing.

To Visitors and to fellow readers here. I, too, feel a tremendous sense of loss with the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. What I tell people around the world and, to my countrymen, too young to have remembered President John F. Kennedy is this: Were it not for the Kennedy's and, what they stood for, I likely would not have attended college in the 1970's. That's right, it was the Harlem - East Harlem Model Cities College grant that made it possible for a working class Black kid to attend college. The other thing that Senator Kennedy had a big hand in, was the creation of the too-short-lived Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, known by the acronym, CETA. Senator Kennedy, along with Senators Humphrey and, Hawkins made it possible for me, in addition to attending college, to get REAL Training in Broadcast Journalism. The program CETA funded was called the Community Film Workshop Council of New York. It was through that intensive program where I got my start in Broadcast Journalism with a job as a reporter with WYTV-TV in Youngstown, Ohio.

I met Senator Kennedy through a college buddy of mine who attended the same New England school as I in the early 1970's. I will not call my friend's name, for he is very much a part of the Irish Massachusetts attorney crowd now, as was his father, who was also close to the Kennedy clan. Senator Kennedy was one public official who was disarming, funny and, not full of himself. That struck me, and also stuck with me when I got the chance to meet him again, years later. It was in New York's Bryant Park, weeks after the September 11th attacks, in 2001, where Kennedy, along with Former President William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton made stump speeches for fellow New York Democrats. Kennedy was approachable and, not aloof. And, again, one disarming man.

Covering politics in New York and, in other Cities around the USA for a variety of media organs, one can get cynical of elected officials who have a penchant to disappoint. With Ted Kennedy, there was always something to learn and, to ponder. Yet, I cannot forget the indelible mark, through legislation and policies, the impact this family has had on my life both directly and indirectly. WE may never again see another elected official with the vision, passion and heart of the man, known to many as the lion of the U.S. Senate. For this observer, he will be missed.