... is that you find your strength when you go through pain. I wish strength and comfort to all of France and all victims of violence around the world.
It will take all of our collective lifetimes to bring peace to the world. Maybe our children or grandchildren will know it. In order to keep working for them, even though we may never see the full reward of our work, we have to be encouraged and stay encouraged.
It will take all of our collective lifetimes to bring peace to the world. Maybe our children or grandchildren will know it. In order to keep working for them, even though we may never see the full reward of our work, we have to be encouraged and stay encouraged.
today
I am encouraged
Just look at what we have done
we have filled this world
with a harvest of freedom
each one of us, a dream realized
every moment of our lives
an instance of oppression defied
every breath and utterance
a reflection of the resilience of life
despite being terrorized
brutalized and denied opportunity to thrive
our ancestors survived
reborn and alive in us
we must
be encouraged
be encouraged
each of us
could have shut up
in the face of injustice
but instead we stepped up
and kept up the mission the elders left us
and the world is so messed up
sometimes we get fed up
about ready to head up out the door
but then we connect up
hear stories that refresh us
and remind us of what we are fighting for
Be encouraged
Be encouraged
For We who believe in freedom shall not rest until it comes
And Freedom isnt a buzz word of pop philosophy
Freedom is the difference between a public school and a for profit penitentiary
Freedom aint the choice between coke zero or diet pepsi
Freedom is being healthy enough to enjoy your body
Freedom isnt choosing between comedians Colbert and Stewart or clowns like beck and hannity
Freedom is getting information instead of ideology
Freedom learns from it all
from the right to the left
to consider it all then take the best and leave the rest
we can learn a little bit from capitalists about how to catalyze
And we can learn a whole lot from socialists about how to prioritize
We can learn from the politician about how to compromise
We can learn from the revolutionary about how to lock our eyes on the prize
In freedom even perceived enemies
Have something to teach
Every heart and mind
Is within freedom’s reach
Be encouraged
Be encouraged
Because there aint no power like the power of the people
And the power of the people don’t stop
And we won’t stop at a black president
Won’t pause for a promotion
Won’t bow down or mumble humbly
We gon cause some commotion
Filing motions to cease and desist against racists
Composing policy and voting
We are in motion and wont stop
Till we rid our cities of crime and killer cops
We won’t stop with non-profits
We will be present in government
And prepared to take to the streets
From Main to Wall to Martin Luther King
You will hear us on your radio and see us on your tv
We resist the inertia of his-story
And its tendency to tame ambitions
Yeah we have come a long way
but not nearly completed our mission
Listen to your breath
That’s the sound of Ms. Moses Tubman in the woods
The sound John Brown plotting
And jim crow rotting like he should
Feel your heart beat
That’s children growing brilliant and strong
That’s women loving their whole selves
And men being present in the home
Say yes
That’s the sound of a nation
the founding fathers could not forsee
want to glimpse tomorrow
just look at me
A Black mestizo Filipino Creole German Jew
With half Asian babies and Indigenous roots
Look at you
A ménage of hues
With treasures of talents and tools
We are the truth
Empowered youth come to renew and rejuvenate
we refuse to resuscitate the
Old american ways
that confuse and reduce
A human being
To a gender class or race
We’ve come to reject and redefine
Politics as we know it
With is sick, twisted, and nihilistic
Fear-based, hate-laced rhetoric
Be encouraged
Be encouraged
This is what power looks like
We are democracy in the flesh
We are the hands that weave dignity
The minds that command respect
We dream in color
And we’ve come to wake the world up
We reach out and connect like webs
form networks to keep in touch
We destroy the constructs that divide us
We build bridges of unity
From the country to the city
We are the world community
Be encouraged
Be encouraged
You can feel change in its skin
Wrapped around your hands
Echoed In the world you envision
Moving through this room
In the boom of silent intention
made real by commitment and necessity bred invention
be encouraged
be encouraged
Keep loving in the midst of the struggle
Keep hoping in the twists of trouble
keep singing and playing
Dancing and praying
and whatever brings you joy and defeats your fear
keep exercising your mind
read to feed your ideas
keep seeking the divine in its glory
And in the little things like us here
Together at this gathering
We are worker bees
hustling for humanity
Be encouraged
Be encouraged
be you in the streets stomping for justice
or in power writing policy
be you in schools deconstructing ignorance
or an artist creating space for visionaries
whatever you be
be encouraged
lift your little bit of this 7 billion
and know that from the bottom up
we are building
a world for our children’s, children’s,
children’s children…
today
Be
encouraged
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