Today is the birthday of James Weldon Johnson, born June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida. Poet, novelist, and U.S. diplomat, James Weldon Johnson is probably best known to millions as the author of the lyrics to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the black national anthem. Johnson was also a civil rights activist and was Executive Secretary of the National Association of Colored People from 1920 to 1929. As such, Johnson spoke out on a variety of issues facing African Americans.

In this historic speech given at a dinner for Congressman (and future New York Mayor) Fiorello H. LaGuardia at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City on March 10, 1923. James Weldon Johnson outlined the importance of the vote for the nation’s Black Americans of African descent. The many injustices detailed in 1923 aren't as visible in 2018 as they were 1923. However, the importance of voting is just as critical. In 1923 more than 90% of our ancestors were openly being denied the vote. They were facing mobs bent on violence to deny our constitution right provided by the 15th Amendment of the Constitution. Our ancestors sacrificed life and limb to gain those rights supposedly provided them once they were released from bondage.

So, remember on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, do exactly as ancestor James Weldon Johnson would have demanded you to do, vote, and don't let anyone shake our tree of a hoped-for​ democracy. The right to vote was not given to our ancestors freely. The right to vote was fought for, bled for, and sacrificed for by our ancestors. So, I as honor the birthdate of a great American hero who believed in equal justice for all, James Weldon Johnson in his words, my voice.​

BLACK POWER SPEECH
Greenwood, Mississippi
Meredith March Against Fear

On June 16, 1966, Stokely Carmichael changed the course of the American Civil Rights Movement for African Americans in the muggy evening air in Greenwood, Mississippi with two powerful words, Black Power.

"Those two words embolden the youths in America's black communities to thrust themselves into a new militancy.
Those two words implied that no longer would our communities wait for a change.
Those two words demanded change."

So, when this new black militancy arrived a generation of black men and women began renewed systematic battle that was launched by local, state and federal government forces to disrupt those calls for change. Stokely Carmichael was at the head of these new agents of change. Stokely had been a non-violent advocate for civil rights freedom now he was demanding that change must come at any cost. It was those two words that identified Stokely Carmichael as Public Enemy Number by every white agency of black suppression. The racial lines had been clearly drawn the mechanisms of law enforcement sought to destroy not only Stokely Carmichael but also every entity that aligned with this newly minted philosophy.

America's urban areas became battlegrounds as well as areas that saw an influx of ​guns and drugs delivered by a government that conjured up methods of destruction that literally erased complete black communities. These strategies cause widespread death, incarceration, increased poverty, and delivered blows to our communities still being felt 53 years later. Two words put the fear into the white establishment that an empowered people would force positive changes in black communities. Those positive changes that Carmichael envisioned still are unattainable today. Yet we hope that power in blackness will be achieved.

1. “I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.” – Frederick Douglas. Why do black Americans celebrate a day with no historical merit? Juneteenth was created date to feel good but slavery continued for another century.