FROM THE AUTHOR OF FINALLY>

More than 400 years ago,
the slave ships came to this shore
Dropping thousands of our ancestors
and going back for more
Traveling back and forth with our people across the seas
Who on board were often gagged
and bound on hands and knees.

If this country has any shame, then this is truly it
That for many years slavery
ruled our people with its whip
And even after slavery was officially abolished
It has taken decades to erase the marks that demolished

A people of strong ancestry who were queens and kings
Who have fought and struggled to overcome many things
How did we make it through slavery
and that horrific time
And overcome those obstacles that were meant
to keep us in a bind?
We all pulled together.

But it didn’t end with slavery, no.
There were more hurdles to jump
Jim Crow laws and segregation were the next big hump.
Signs that read “whites only” and “coloreds over here.”
Many places we could not go
because we were not allowed there.

We were promised forty acres and a mule,
which we never received.
But we kept our faith in God and continued to believe.
Even when our families were divided
and our children taken away
To be auctioned and sold to the highest
bidder of the day.

Then there was the injustice of lynchings of young boys, like Emmett Till.
But we continued and kept going on
because of our strong will
To make it despite every obstacle
that had been placed in our way
For we had a lot to give and most certainly a lot to say,
So we all pulled together.

Yes, we all pulled together in the struggle for our rights
And we got behind the movement
and joined in some fights
Whether Marcus, Medgar, Martin, Malcolm or Adam Clayton Powell right here
You can be sure our voices were heard
across the United States somewhere.

Because it is only in working together
that we accomplish what we must
And as we continue to lean on one another
and in the Lord we trust
That we can accomplish our mission for today
Then and only then can we really have our say.

So as we gather at this Black History Month Celebration,
In these extremely difficult times,
when we need some inspiration
Fiscal crises, budget cuts, terrorism, threats of war
and reorganizational change
So many things are happening
that to us might seem strange.

How will we make it? How will we come out on top?
By doing what we’ve always done –
now is not the time to stop.

Slavery, segregation, Jim Crow…
we’ve always made it through
And the only way to get through this
is to do what we always do:
Harambee… Let us all pull together.

—From Finally
by Rolanda T. Pyle

Copyright © 2004 by Rolanda T. Pyle