A Dear Friend Writes Me And Says.........

Friends, Family ...,

Allow me tonight, as I listen to the strands of Marvin Sapp's Never Could Have Made It Without You, to reflect on those who survived the transatlantic journey - whose very DNA had to change in order to survive; those who survived the beatings, the toll in the fields under the searing hot sun; those whose language, religion, mothers, fathers, sons & daughters - those whose very names - were taken from them; those whose backs on which this country was built;

Allow me tonight to remember Sojourner Truth; Harriett Tubman; Frederick Douglas; those who dared to lead during Reconstruction only to see it stripped away...

You know that they hoped; you know that they prayed; they cried for one day ...

Allow me tonight to remember Booker T; Mary Mccloud Bethune; Malcom; Martin; Fannie Lou Hammer ...

Who lived for the day....

And here we are - their seeds -about to witness the first African American nominee for the presidency of these United States of America;

Here I am - one whose paternal grandfather and grandmother were slaves.

Here I am - a child who went to a segregated elementary and high school

Tonight witnessing something that I thought that neither I or my children would ever live to see.

Yes, I know that this Democratic primary has been of historic proportions with the first viable female candidate as well,

But allow me tonight to remember - 'cause I never would have made it without THEM.