I heard him in Houston and I thank my sister for sharing.
I hope we understand the NAACP is still very important for the survival of
Blacks in this country.
Read his message and if you are not a current member please join.
DC NAACP Membership Chair
ANC Commissioner 5A09
Shirley Rivens Smith, President
US Africa Sister Cities Foundation, Inc.
DC-Dakar
2000 Upshur St., NE
Washington, DC 20018
www.usasc.org
202-635-3138
The Rev. Dr. William Barber, II
Charge to the 103rd Annual Convention of the NAACP
July 11, 2012
Good morning, NAACP we certainly thank God for his grace and to our Chair
who has called us to be the face of hope,
our President and CEO who has charged us to remind ourselves that there are
more with us than there are against us to all the members of the National
Political Action Committee and to all the members of the staff and to our
vice chair and this convention chairman.
Why are we here this morning in this plenary and not in a workshop on voting
rights?
In the testimony circle of my faith tradition the saints often declare if we
ever needed the Lord we sure do need him now. I want to in the tradition of
the hip hop tradition sample from that faith tradition and say if we ever
needed to vote we sure do need to vote now for us the right to vote is not
just a constitutional matter but a right borne out of struggle, out of
sacrifice and a gift from the God of justice who 2600 years ago had his
prophet say to every nation you must do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly
before your God and 2000 years ago had his Son say that the least of these
must be at the center of public policy, think for a moment where we are in
the time in which we are in and you will understand why if we never ever
needed to vote we sure do need to vote now here we are today...
Sister Dukes 393 years since the first ship landed in Virginia to bring
slaves; here we are Sister Coleman where 242 years ago Crispus Attucks was
the first African American to die fighting for this country,
236 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence,
225 years since the Constitution was adopted,
225 years since we were fractionized in that Constitution and called
three-fifths of a person,183 years since Mexico outlawed slavery and
176 years since Texas revolted because they wanted to keep their slaves,
163 years since Harriet Tubman escaped slavery,
160 years since Frederick Douglass since somebody just quoted him, actually
delivered in his...actually delivered in his 4th of July speech, that
America's July 4th celebrations were fraud bombast hypocrisy, until America
did right by the sons and daughters of slaves,
149 years since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation,
147 years since the end of the Civil war,
142 years since the ratification of the 15th Amendment,
118 years since the riots of Wilmington North Carolina to stop black
political power,
108 years since the riots in Springfield Illinois,
68 years since Smith v. Allwright opened up primaries for black people,
68 years since Primus King was denied the right to vote in Georgia in a
primary,
58 years since Brown v. Board of Education,
57 since the brutal murder of Emmett Till,
52 since the sit INS in Greensboro organized by A&T and Bennett students,
46 years after Barbara Jordan was the first African American to sit in the
Texas Senate,
48 years since Fannie Lou Hamer said there comes a time when you get sick
and tired of being sick and tired,
51 years since Dr. King said to the AFL CIO that the only voting bloc that
could transform America would be for Blacks and labor and poor Whites and
Latinos to learn how to work together,
49 years since the murder of Medgar Evers,
49 years since the March on Washington,
49 years since the bombing of four girls in a Birmingham church,
48 years since the signing of the Civil Rights Act,
47 years since Bloody Sunday,
47 years since the Voting Rights act,
47 years since Malcolm X was killed,
44 years since students at South Carolina State were massacred,
44 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King,
44 years since the signing of the Fair Housing Act,
43 years since conservatives dismantled the Office of Economic Opportunity,
43 years since my parents fought to integrate public schools,
3 years since Barack whose name means Praise the Lord was sworn in to be
President of these United States,
8 years since James Johnson was wrongfully incarcerated,
6 years since John [Menier?] was wrongfully incarcerated,
1year since Troy Davis was murdered by the state,
4 months and 11 days since the shooting of Trayvon Martin,
4 months since the secret documents revealed by the National Organization on
Marriage that they started the same sex marriage fight not for moral reasons
but to split the black and LGBT community in order to defeat President
Obama. We have been through too much and seen too much and fought for too
much.
If we ever needed to vote...!
That's why you're here but there's one more piece not only have we been
through too much there's still too much to fight for...
27.4% of African Americans in poverty
12 million children red, yellow, black and white in poverty
27 million Americans unemployed
14% of African Americans unemployed
49 million Americans uninsured
1 out of every 5 African Americans uninsured
1million African Americans incarcerated
Politicians can say "elect me and I'll take your healthcare"
"elect me and I'll take your voting rights"
"elect me and I'll take your social security"
"elect me and I'll re=segregate your public schools"
"elect me and I'll ignore your poverty"
and still get votes!
Here we are 22 million African Americans eligible to vote and yet 8 million
didn't vote
1% of the population controls 42% of the wealth
10% of the population controls 93% of the wealth
117 days until election day and across this nation there are tough times
we've seen an implosion of our economy despite the evidence there are those
who want to give pity to billionaires and inflict more pain on the poor.
We see politicians that pander to bigots and race baiting those who have
been forced to get on welfare never in history has so much money been spent
to resist equality the gross sums of money being spent to take us backwards
is lewd, is pornographic is blatant and is arrogant these are troubling
times.
corporation are treated like people
people are treated like things
banks get bailouts from loans with our money with no interest
and the banks turn around and lend us our money back to us with interest
these are critical times
and if we ever needed to vote
we sure do need to vote now
I don't know if Republicans are going to show up
I don't know if Democrats are going to show up
but the sons and daughters of slaves we better the hell show up!
That's why we're here
Our parents did more with less than we have today
with less they beat slavery
with less they beat Jim Crow
with less they beat lynching
with less they beat the KKK
with less Harriet Tubman got 500 slaves out of slavery
she didn't have email
she didn't have text Face book
she didn't have [???]
she didn't have texting or even know what Twitter was
she didn't have a car
but she had faith in God
a 38 pistol on her side
moss on the north side of a tree
and a north star in the middle of the night
she did more with less
we must do more with more
so from now until November
email everybody you know
tell em to show up
cause if we ever needed to vote,
we sure do need to vote now
text everybody
tell em to show up
MySpace everybody
tell em to show up
take some of them friends you don't need to have off Face book
and get some real friends up there
tell them to show up
call everybody you know
knock on everybody's door
I don't know how to tweet
but my children or daughter can tweet
I told them to tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet
tweet everybody you know!
because God is not going to do for us what we can do for ourselves
if we ever needed to vote,
we sure need to vote now
and when we do Leon what we are supposed to do
God will show up
God will bless our efforts
He always has
He always will
when we work our faith
miracles and movements
faith is what you believe about God
works is what you do because of what you believe about God
faith without works is destitute and devoid
but faith with works is dynamic and can change a destiny
whenever we work our faith,
God shows up
when Moses stretched out his rod
God showed up
the wind came down
the Red Sea opened up
Pharaoh was brought down
when they marched around Jericho
God showed up
walls fell down
when David threw the rock
God showed up
Goliath came down
when Daniel
went in the lions' den
God showed up
the lions calmed down
when Esther
went to see the King
God showed up
evil plans were turned around
when a woman
touched the hem of his garment
God showed up
blood disease slowed down
when a boy
gave the lord fish
five loaves
God showed up
and a buffet came down
when Jesus went to the cross God showed up
Satan's kingdom was torn down
early Sunday morning resurrection happened
and the angels had a Holy Ghost throw down
when Thurgood Marshall went to the Supreme Court
and America's segregation was brought down
when Rosa Parks sat down
God showed up
Jim Crow had to step down
if we vote
the tea party will be voted down
every time we put our faith and our works together
evil is shut down
God shows up!
I got a question for the NAACP
Do I have a witness?
Won't God show up?
Won't God show up?
Won't God show up?
What's in your hands?
What's in your hands?
Use what you got—
God will give you what you need!
Won't he show up?
Won't he show up?
If I was in North Carolina I'd say; say yeah
say yeah, say yeah say yeah, say yeah, say yeah
now tell your neighbor, "neighbor
if we ever needed to vote
we sure enough sure enough sure enough
need to vote!
Right now!"
and God!
will!
show!
up!
WAKE UP!!!! WAKE UP!!!! WAKE UP!!!!
--
WardFive@googlegroups.com is open to WardFive residents for community discussion and information sharing.
To post to this group, send email to wardfive@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wardfive+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wardfive?hl=en
0 comments:
Post a Comment