Are you up for the task?
Many times we are assigned a job that we are not quite sure we are capable of doing. However, after evaluating the circumstances, we gear up and accept the challenge ahead.
Black History Month just ended, and I have heard several speakers and preachers expound on Black History. Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), the greatest anti-slavery speaker of his time, would deliver his speech, and not a dry eye could be found in the crowd. Many people were troubled to hear about the cruel conditions of slavery. They knew it was bad but did not know how often slaves were whipped and killed.
Born a slave himself, Douglass escaped to freedom at the age of 21 and later helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept Black soldiers into the Union Army. Also, history notes that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves on 1-1-1863.
No one expressed the anger that many Black Americans felt during the 1950s more vivdly than Malcolm X. He grew up in a foster home, and as a young man in his twenties he was sent to prison. It was there that he discovered a religious group called the Nation of Islam. This organization of Black Muslims helped him find his purpose in life. Malcolm X was the leading spokesman for the Nation of Islam.
Constance Baker Motley was a lawyer who fought many civil rights battles. One of her most famous victories gave James Meredith a right to attend the school of his choice. Her victory struck an important blow against segregation in Southern universities. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson appointed her as a United State District Judge. She was a powerful speaker who believed courts and laws are powerful weapons in the fight for justice.
I received a call for two Black History Speaking engagements. I really did not know what to think, but it seemed to reason that they should have been calling the late Rev. C.D. Hamilton. As the first quarter of the year would begin, Rev. Hamilton’s calendar would already be filled with invitations for speaking. He spoke fervently about his experience in Selma, Alabama during the Civil Rights struggles.
I can remember him saying he wanted to be a part of the struggle so that his children could have a better way of life. He wanted them not to be second-class citizens, to have a good education and to go to the school of their choice. He often talked about his walk with Dr. Martin Luther King over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the obstacles they met during the sixties.
The job of public speaking…should I take this job or decline the job? What could I say that would help someone? Nevertheless, I was honored to be chosen as a Black History Speaker.
On Saturday, February 18, I spoke to the Prison and Angel Tree Ministry led by Vernitha Garner. My topic was “Believe and Achieve.” I began my speech with a reference to Lott Carey, a Negro missionary who went to Africa to spread the gospel. Even today we are missionaries and must get the word out to our youth that there is HOPE. We must get the word out that you are somebody and to leave the dope alone. It is killing our people. We really are a strong race of people, but if we are not careful we will decline because of the evil things that can destroy us.
Let us teach our youth to believe in themselves. I told my story about attending an all-Black school until I reached the ninth grade. All the students at that school were nurtured and loved by the teacher. As I got ready for integration at my new school, I had a new job to undertake. My job was to study, be attentive in my classes and learn all that was being taught. I joined the FBLA and later secured a job at TVA for the second half of the school day. I was learning work skills, and I was challenging myself to deliver what was required.
Our forefathers knew their lives would be short, but they knew they had to step forward and make a difference because they believed things could get better. All I asked as I spoke on that Saturday was, please step out and get started with that passionate desire of what you have longed to do.
Believe in yourself.
