A tribute to our past, present and future. Here’s to winner in all of us.

The history of a noble race, running roughshod over bondage, obstacles and time eternal. Fearless, proud and infinitely hopeful, that is essence of our heritage. In honoring Black America we celebrate rebirth of nation’s most maligned ethnic group.

We celebrate present by expounding on our achievements and reliving great moments from past. We celebrate our ancestors who toiled in midday sun, under sweltering heat of oppression. Exhausted, their hands covered with abrasions from cotton’s prickly thorns, they refused to buckle under indignation, creating courage of highest magnitude.

We celebrate legacy of Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Dubois, crying out against injustice. We celebrate NAACP, National Urban League and Southern Christian Leadership Conference in their crusade to remove insufferable stench of racism gone awry.

We celebrate strength of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Ida Wells-Barnett, women of unrelenting persistence, rebelling against savagery of hate and inhumanity.

We celebrate uprisings of Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey in their ill-fated attempt at freedom. So strong were these men in their quest for freedom, they preferred death to enslavement. We celebrate Civil, Political and Equal rights so long denied and withheld. We celebrate our triumphs, disasters and heritage.

We celebrate political activism of Jesse Jackson, Fannie Lou Hamer and charismatic Adam Clayton Powell, eloquent strategists demanding granting of voting rights to every adult, young and old.

We celebrate soldiers on battlefield. From rebel retreat of Fort Wagner during Civil War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unsung heroes fighting and dying to keep America safe for democracy.

We celebrate literary genius of James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks and Maya Angelou, urging America to redeem its pledge of equal rights for all via written word.

(9-11)

Having previously warned several preachers that God was angry, there was no positive response. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily ... (Ec. 8:11), none believed.

To whom much has been given, much shall be required. That means you, America. Drugs, violence, families torn apart, financial ruin ... we've been experiencing personal earthquakes for quite some time, while church slept on.

One lady said she heard someone on TV ask, "What did we do to deserve this?" And as soon as she heard question, answer came. Her response was this, "In past tragedies, America was shaken. This time, we got spanked."

If only by candidates they choose; New York supports such things as abortion in a more unified way. Others shed spiritual blood in less visible ways: attacking whatever they don't understand, thinking it will of God to separate from everything not like them, not allowing people to serve as God calls them, etc.). To subvert a man in his cause, Lord approveth not (La. 3:36). Blood for blood (Ge. 9:6), moon turning to blood (Ps. 89:37, Ez. 33:4), if that's what it takes. Every knee shall bow.

Tragedy reminds us of important things in life, draws us to unity that would otherwise never be, causes us to get on our knees and look up. The center of our earth shook. The land quaked ... this time, in a way that no one could ignore.

Those involved in Internet ministry have withstood gates of hell to go to highways and byways, and against criticism from without and within. One person suggested that church just received their wake-up call.