"We've Come This Far By Faith" The African American Cultural Narrative

Описание: The Positive Community Presents....

The Cultural Narrative

A reading, by Co-Founder and Publisher

Adrian Council, Sr.

"African Americans are a unique people with a peculiar
history in this land. Brought to these shores in chains, from
Africa in the early 1600’s, our people toiled and suffered as
captives in brutal bondage for a quarter of a millennium
(250 years). On January 1 st 1863, two years into the Civil
War, the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President
Abraham Lincoln became law, signaling an end to slavery.
On that day, the African American community of the
United States of America was born.
One hundred years later, in August, 1963, at the height of
the Civil Rights Movement, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial, as he led
hundreds of thousands to a “ March on Washington”
seeking an end to discrimination and Jim Crow segregation
in the South. It was a demand for full citizenship rights for
the people in what has been called “The Second
Emancipation’
Forty years after Martin Luther King’s tragic assassination
in 1968, America elects its first black president, Barrack
Obama (2008).

In the 100 years between the first and “second
emancipation”, in the mist of bitter persecution,
humiliation, lynching and enduring the denial of basic
human rights, the resiliency of the African American spirit
continued to shine brightly in religion, business, education,
medicine, invention, sports and in the creative arts-music,
fashion, dance, language, literature and theater. Indeed,
original American art forms and a popular culture which
has become the envy of the world were founded upon the
souls of a forlorn people! That is our story-the Truth,
Beauty and Goodness of a loving and gifted race- revealed!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Extraordinary History
Ours is an extraordinary history of trial, tribulation and
triumph that we must never forget! This is the story that we
must tell our children and be ever remembered for all
generations. We the people, descendants of The Great
Emancipation, must tell our story and sing our song to each
other and the entire world! We must remind ourselves, over
and over again of the noble struggle and scarifies of our
torch-bearing forefathers; of our goodly heritage; our
divine inheritance; our great music legacy —Positive
Music Matters!
This is our story, our cultural narrative, a new language of
freedom; a springboard into a great and prosperous future;
a spiritually enlightened ideal. A vision of hope and
progress; liberty and happiness; health and wholeness;
peace and goodwill.

Indeed... WE'VE COME THIS FAR BY FAITH....!"