Expanding Black Joy
And Before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave,
And go home to my Lord and be saved.
We are here celebrating JUNETEENTH—The theme is EXPANDING BLACK JOY.
We Expand Black Joy by acknowledging our ROOTS. Malcolm X once said,
"You can't hate the roots of the tree without ending up hating the tree.
You can't hate your origin without ending up hating yourself.
You can't hate the land, your motherland, the place you come from, and we can't hate Africa without hating ourselves."
WE CELEBRATE JUNETEENTH BECAUSE WE ARE STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF OUR ANCESTORS who fought for us to be here this very day.
We acknowledge their FORTITUDE DETERMINATION & SACRIFICES.
They have INSTILLED IN US through many generations a Village Consciousness of UNSPEAKABLE PRIDE & JOY.
WE ARE STANDING ON THEIR SHOULDERS WITH OUR COLLECTIVE SPIRITUALITY—which embodies our African Primal religions, our reverence for our ancestors, our belief in the spiritual realms, aspirations, giftedness, and chosenness.
WE ARE STANDING ON THEIR SHOULDERS WITH OUR RESILIENCE—our ability to bounce back from every disappointment, delay, and disaster. We are resilient, which involves a transformation that matures us and makes us better, wiser, more productive, and more courageous.
WE ARE STANDING ON THEIR SHOULDERS WITH OUR COLLECTIVE MEMORY— try as they might to delete us from history books, classes, and instruction; Try as they might lull us back to sleep, crying in self-pity; We have woken up, we have dried our eyes, and We will never forget our history with its trials and triumphs. We know Life is No Crystal Stair. We've experienced a dream deferred, Yet We still Rise!
WE ARE STANDING ON THEIR SHOULDERS WITH OUR COMMUNALISM— our VILLAGE CONSCIOUSNESS, an understanding, and practice of COMMUNITY, which is our awareness and interdependence of each other. Communalism is when we live and act out of love and duty to our family, community, and society.
WE ARE STANDING ON THEIR SHOULDERS WITH OUR EXPRESSIVENESS. This includes our creative and imaginative ways of communicating through the oral tradition, word of mouth, Poetry, Prose, Rap, Hip Hop, Reggae, Spirituals, Gospels, Blues, Soul, Jazz, R &B, Country, and so on. We connect to our African rhythms and beats that call out to our souls through dances of all styles.
WE STAND ON THEIR SHOULDERS WITH OUR INDIVIDUALITY, UNIQUENESS, & VITALITY—which encompasses our Personal Style and Uniqueness and the cultivation and development of our distinctive personality and essence. It is creating our own brand with style, approaching life as adventure and exploration. We have Vitality because we express a sense of aliveness, animation, and openness in approaching life and its challenges. We see the bright side; we see defeats as lessons, setbacks and stepping stones, and mistakes as motivation to get it right.
We see the Rising Sun instead of the Midnight hour. We keep our heads to the sky.
Finally, WE STAND ON THE SHOULDERS OF OUR ANCESTORS WITH OUR REALNESS. We face life HEAD ON without pretense, phoniness, selling out, or hypocrisy.
WE KEEP IT REAL!
On this Glorious day, LET US CONTINUE EXPANDING THE JOY By Being
100% AUTHENTIC
100% ORIGINAL
100% GENUINE
AND BEFORE, I'D BE A SLAVE!
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