Black History...Revisited

I haven't given a speech in a very long time, so when I was asked to write one for Black History Month...I immediately thought...YES!! Of course I loved it; it was mine!! My heart, my thoughts, my perspective written in a way to reach...twelve and thirteen year olds. My sister heard it first and said I took her to "church", then my coworkers and students were right there with the same comments.

As the months passed, students told me in so many different ways that they enjoyed my speech, that it made them think, that it made them feel, and some simply said wow. I was happy with it all!! I am still reminded of how it made the students feel and think afterwards. THEY held it close enough to their hearts, that they still think about it. So maybe I didn't reach them all. Maybe, I just reached a select few. The thing that truly makes me smile, is the fact that it's May, and the words I spoke are still remembered. That tells me they didn't just retain it, those words moved them. So I figured I'd share it....



Walter Gagehot said, “A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” These could not be truer words to say during Black History Month. When Marian Anderson, a great opera singer, was denied permission to sing at Washington, D.C’s Constitution Hall, she did not let go of her dream. Instead she continued to press on. By 1955, she became the first African American to appear with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York. Imagine the reaction of those who said she could not accomplish such a task. Madame C.J. Walker saw a need for beauty products for African-American woman, invented them, and became a self-made millionaire. She had a dream. Even though Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong’s mother was a domestic worker and a prostitute and his father a turpentine worker, he became one of the greatest jazz musicians alive. He had a dream.

When African-American women and men felt a need to commit to not only themselves but also their community they organized Alpha Phi Alpha in 1906, Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1908, Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi in 1911, Delta Sigma Theta in 1913, Phi Beta Sigma in 1914, Zeta Phi Beta in 1920, Sigma Gamma Rho in 1922, and Iota Phi Theta in 1963. They all had a dream. How did they accomplish such feats? Why did they stay on a course to create, to instill, to embody, and uplift themselves and their culture?

Hope. Hope kept them strong. The American Heritage Dictionary defines hope as a wish with expectation of its fulfillment, to look forward to something with confidence. Yes, it was hope that kept these African Americans and many like them on a course to stop segregation, to gain fair treatment, and to simply be able to not only take part but also be a part of a society that shunned and condemned them to minimal ideals of the American Dream. So ask yourself, what do you hope for? What is it that you want out of life? What do you plan to accomplish? Because I will tell you now that you can be and do anything you put your mind too. It doesn’t matter who you mother was, what you father did, where you live…all that matters is that you promise yourself to be better, stronger, and wiser with each moment that you are able to live.

Forget what you have, because when you leave this world, you cannot take it with you. It doesn’t matter who you know because at some point you, YES YOU, will have to go and get it on your own. Your parents aren’t getting this education, you are. Your friends aren’t going to work on your future job, you are. Regardless of the number of referrals that have been written on you, the grades you had first semester, the homework you didn’t turn in yesterday, you have the opportunity with each new day to surpass the restrictions you put on yourself the day before. You hear it often that the choice is yours, so what choices are you going to make. If you don’t like your friends, change them, if you don’t like your grades study harder to do better, if you don’t like that people think you are something other than who you really are, wake up everyday AND PROVE THEM WRONG.

Hope is a very necessary thing. But it is only half of the equation. Where you have hope to keep you going, faith keeps you strong. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The individuals I spoke of did not see the end result of their greatness, but they never lost faith. When slaves left with Harriet Tubman, they did not lose their faith. When Sojourner Truth spoke to the masses about being a women, she did not lose her faith. When Emmitt Tills’ mother lost her son to the brutality of a segregated south, she did not lose her faith. So again, I tell you to not lose your faith as you continue on your journey. Learn all you can. Be all you can. Embody all you can. Show all you can to disprove anything placed on you. I DID.

I grew up hearing everything I wouldn’t be and couldn’t do. And even when I had my son at the age of 20, I finished my undergraduate degree in 3 years and went on to obtain my Master’s degree with my son in my lap and while holding down a job. I had obstacles to sort through and figure out. But I kept my head up, I held on to hope and kept faith through every trial, through every storm. And now, now, I can take everything I’ve been through and tell others that yes it is possible. It is possible to be strong, intelligent, independent a single mother and still accomplish goals.

Young brothers and sisters of various backgrounds know that there is strength in your struggle and power in your pain. You will outlive your current situation, if you want to do just that because it does not define you. It will break you if you let it, but it doesn’t have to.

Every person you meet will have a story. When they speak, pay attention to the stories they tell you. Take those lessons of wisdom and turn them into your necklace of understanding. Wear it proudly because maybe, just maybe you won’t make the same mistake. And if by some chance you do, take that lesson, learn from it, grow from it, and press on because the road will be rough because you will have your own valleys to climb out of and your own mountains to climb over.
I ask you to not tread on the clear path mapped out for you, but if necessary branch off and create your own journey to greatness.

Today I charge you to be like those African Americans who saw no door, knocked down a wall, and built their own. Today I charge you to be better than what history has said you will be. Today I charge you to take your place and be role models and love yourself enough to reach for the impossible and to not be upset if you don’t get there the first time. Donnie Simpson said, “Shoot for the moon, for even if you miss you’ll be among the stars.” So find your goal, aim for it, and keep aiming for it until you’re there. Today I charge you to keep hope and faith with you always, to be excited about its fulfillment and to always, always believe that it can and will happen.

Go, Tell Michelle

I have become a part history. Along with 99 of the most talented, intelligent, and ariticulate African American woman, we have become embedded in the thread of telling the world our inner most secrets in the most passionate way. Thanks to the creative minds of Barbara Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram, we have come together to tell Michelle Obama our dreams, hopes, and prayers for her an in her family as they journey to the White House. This is an absolute blessing. It is the road less traveled, trampled by the many letters and poems with a voice and a purpose.

Just as we were ask to Go, Tell Michelle, I ask that you Go, Tell all you know about this project.
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