This is not the same sound
that gets played every day.
Open your minds,
and hear what I’ve got to say.

If you listen to these words,
you’ll hear a voice you’ve never heard,
tho’ it’s been in your head
from the time of your birth,
and every single second
that you’ve walked on this earth.

The noise that’s been bombarding you
may have drowned it out.
But if you turn down the volume,
you will hear it shout.

“I am the slave ship survivor
at the root of your family tree.
My strength and my courage
flows strong to you from me.

Death was all around me
in the bowels of that stinking ship.
But I held tight to life,
while others let it slip.

Tho’ you may not know my name,
the fire of my soul
courses thru your veins.
Un-extinguished by the brutality
of four barbaric centuries,
this enduring determination,
passed down thru the generations,
to find a way thru each cruel day
is my precious gift to you
to fight oppressions old and new.

I survived so you could thrive
in the land of the free.
How will you honor my legacy?”

Now hear the ancestor’s voice,
and remember you have a choice
to live with strength and dignity
or enslave your mind in the poverty
of ignorance and hopelessness,
believing wrongly you have less
than what it takes to reach success.

Remember those who came before,
and know that in your blood runs more
resilience and resistance-
Even when life’s hardness overwhelms, just be persistent.

Remember you are not alone.
In the core of every cell and bone
they reside to help you rise
above self-doubt and realize
you have the power to overcome
when you honor the past from which you’ve come.

They survived so you could thrive
in the land of the free.
How will you honor their legacy?