Because
we have forgotten our ancestors, our children no longer give us honor.
Vicissitudes” Underwater sculpture in
Grenada in honor of African ... claireejones.wordpress.com
Because
we have lost the path our ancestors cleared, kneeling in perilous undergrowth,
our children cannot find their way.
Because
we have banished the God of our ancestors, our children cannot pray.
Because
the old wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing, our children
cannot hear us crying.
| Slave being tortured (1839) |
Because
we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering, our befuddled children
give birth to children they neither want nor understand.
| Because their ancestors lived on isolated islands, the Gullah are considered to have retained more of their African roots and traditions than any group in America. |
Because
we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our gates, and holds us
up to the mirror of the world, shouting, “Regard the loveless.”
Therefore,
we pledge to bind ourselves again to one another,
Ø
To embrace our lowliest,
Ø
To keep company with our loneliest
Ø
To educate our illiterate
Ø
To feed our starving
Ø
To clothe our ragged,
Ø
To do all good things, knowing that we are more than keepers of
our brothers and sisters. We are our brothers
and sisters.
In honor of those who toiled and
implored God with golden tongues, and in gratitude to the same God who brought
us out of hopeless desolation.
We
make this pledge.
Dr. Maya Angelou
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