As hundreds of thousands of people flock to Washington, D.C., to witness the swearing in of the United State’s first African American president Tuesday, one local civil rights activist has decided to savor the moment in the comfort of his Meridian home.

“That will be a time I wish I could have been there, and I would have been there … I know it’s going to be a mighty throng (of people), and I think I’d just rather relax and watch the history in the making,” said the Rev. Charles Johnson, who, in the ’60s, helped lead Meridian residents as they rallied, marched, boycotted and even fought for equality and human rights during the civil rights movement.

It is a right he has more than earned.

Shortly after his arrival in Meridian 45 years ago, Johnson, who was placed in the area to serve as pastor of Fitkins Memorial Church of the Nazarene, encountered a racial conflict that made him fear for his life. A policeman threatened to kill him as he reprimanded the pastor for a traffic violation.

“I was driving to the post office downtown and turned off 22nd Avenue to Ninth Street. I was in the right lane and the post office was on the left side of the street, so I made a U-turn,” Johnson said.

“As I got out of the car to go to the post office, a police officer who had seen me make the turn from the barber shop across came out and yelled, ‘Hey, (N-word)!’ I started to keep going and he yelled, ‘Didn’t you hear me talking to you boy?'”

Johnson said that when he stopped, the officer began to curse him and, as he continued to talk, lifted his gun and said, “I’ll blow your brains out.” Others from inside the barber show had come outside and began to yell, “Kill him! Kill him!”

The first of many acts of racism the pastor encountered and witnessed, Johnson became aware of racial injustices endured by local blacks, including being barred from restaurants and businesses. as well as unfair treatment by employers.

Frustrated, he organized a group of maids to boycott employers who would not pay at least $1 an hour for their services. From that successful action evolved the Meridian Action Committee and, through his work with the committee, Johnson became involved in causes dedicated to securing equal rights and fair treatment for blacks. He also became actively involved with the Council of Federated Organizations or COFO, an umbrella organization composed of various civil rights groups working independently in Mississippi. In 1964, COFO organized Freedom Summer, a massive voter registration and education project. Through the project, Johnson became close friends of Freedom Summer workers James Chaney and Michael Schwerner.

Through the years, Johnson continued to fight for the rights of blacks, organizing boycotts against downtown restaurants that would not serve blacks or allow them to eat there. The Meridian Action Committee also was instrumental in securing clerk and manager positions for blacks and local stores. And when a black girl was slapped by the owner of The Cinderella clothing store, MAC made sure justice was served.

Johnson said as he and countless others worked to right the wrongs blacks had encountered through numerous social injustices, the idea of a black man one day being elected president of the United States was not considered feasible.

“I think we thought low on the totem pole; we thought just getting blacks elected in local offices was an accomplishment,” he said. “And after we saw we could do that, we moved to state officials. But we still had that reservation of the possibility of seeing an African American in the office of president of the United States; we had no idea. That’s why I wish I could raise my folks up and say, ‘Look what you did!'”

Although Johnson admits that when he first heard of Obama he did not think he would be elected president, much less win the candidacy to seek election.

“I thought it was just a waste of time when he announced that he was running,” he said. “I thought it would be good to acknowledge him in the community … But nobody expected him to do what he has done; this was a miracle.”

Johnson said Obama’s election to the presidency has instilled in him a new appreciation for America.

“It has given me a better love for America, makes me more proud to be an American,” he said. “Because the achievement that was being made through Barack had reached my highest expectations that I could have had in my whole life to see this achievement.

“Not only that, it goes back to what Martin (Luther King Jr.) said. Martin said we as black people were given a check which had insufficient funds, and when we went to cash it, we had nothing in the bank for it,” he said. “This achievement puts cash in the account. And now, we can feel that we can go and cash the check. And that check will help alleviate some of the terrors, some of the problems, some of the difficulties that we’ve been through all these years.”

Obama is not just another black man becoming president, Johnson said, but the epitome of all that blacks, as a people, have encountered for many years.

“And when he steps out, he is not stepping out for a few elite, but also Polly Heidelberg (local civil rights activist), Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry and Medger Evers. He didn’t do it by himself. These were the people who laid the groundwork, that dug the foundation so that he could stand on it,” he said.

Johnson said Obama represents not only the black community, but every community in the United States.

“Every color. So when he steps out to take his oath Tuesday, he not only will be stepping out for those martyrs what went on before – such as Viola Liuzzo (The 39-year-old mother of five murdered by white supremacists after her participation in the protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.) – but for the makeup of the United States of America, all colors, all kindreds.”

He said he hopes Obama’s election as president of the United States will enlighten all youth, especially black males.

“I think it will triumph above all the youth’s questions they’ve had in their minds: ‘Are we worthy? Are we able to achieve such a high office?’ His election will show that young black American that he can achieve whatever he wants to in the United States of America,” Johnson said.

“The ceiling has been broken; there’s no more ceiling there to block his achievements. He can rise all the way to the top. He will see this, whereas all that has been planted in his mind – that you are not able to achieve because of the color of your skin – that it is coming true what Martin said: That man will be judged not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.”

As Johnson speaks again about Tuesday’s greatly anticipated inauguration of the United State’s 44th president, he pauses for a moment. Clearly moved by the enormity of the occasion, he sits back in his chair, removes his glasses, closes his eyes and carefully chooses his words.

“When Barack Obama steps out there on Tuesday, I want to stand up and say, ‘God bless America, land that I love. And I want to ask him to stand beside her and guide her … ” he said, fighting back tears.

After reciting a few stanzas from “America,” Johnson continues.

“I’ll be proud to be an American. I’ll be proud and I don’t believe I’ll be able to contain myself. To see that we won’t have to sing that old song, ‘We Shall Overcome,’ anymore. We can sing, in unison, black men, white men, Jews and Gentiles, and sing, ‘We Have Overcome. It’s going to be an emotional time for me.”