Black Family Pledge

We are finished with the first part of 2007. Time marches on. I wonder if we are making a difference here in the Electronic Village or in other cyberplaces throughout the diaspora? I realize that bloggers are not obligated to have a socially conscious desire to 'make a difference'. Many of us come to our blogs to escape from some aspects of our real lives. However, I have a nagging belief that we can do more. I know that I can do better.

I would love to see the spirit of Umoja fill each of us. I thought it was wonderful to see Theo, YBP Guide and others fight for justice in the case of the young sister from Paris, Texas who was imprisoned on a 7-year humbug.

I think it is great that African American Opinion blog is bringing us together via his cross-posting idea.

What can we do? Whatever it is ... it begins with you and me. It begins today. I am reminded of the powerful words from Dr. Maya Angelou. I invite you to join me in taking the Black Family Pledge!

BLACK FAMILY PLEDGE

by Dr. Maya Angelou

Because we have forgotten our ancestors,
our children no longer give us honor.

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 long wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing,
Our children cannot hear us crying.

Because we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering,
our befuddled children give birth to children they neither want nor understand.

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,
To embrace our lowliest,
To keep company with our loneliest,
To educate our illterate,
To feed our starving,
To clothe our ragged,
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.

This is no April's Fools joke. Isn't it time that each of us step up? Villagers ... do you have a comment to share on this Black Family Pledge?