He said: "OK. This is the part that I don't understand and maybe you can straighten it out for me. We were in Selma. We were in Birmingham. We marched for voting rights. We followed the speaches of Dr. King. We crossed the picket lines. We had stones rain down on us. We had fire hoses wash us away into the gravel. We were kicked and shot at. Some died. We listen to Malcolm, we followed Huey and supported the Black Panthers. Sister Angela who is still with us, bless her, went to prison for us. Our history has been long as it has been bloody. It was a struggle. That's even what it was called: "the struggle". Now, thank god, we have a president who is old enough to remember what took place around him. who is truly an African American. Who could have thought that we would see this in our lifetime? But here is the part that causes me to wake at night with tears in my eyes: the young of our nation know nothing! The stuggles of our nation are not taught in public schools. This history, so vital to our people, is considered too new to be history and, therefore, our young people know nothing of went into the movement that lead to their being here, alive and free, today. They don't know the names and they don't know the places. They don't know how to respond to the little they hear about. They have no respect for the people who sacrificed everything, and I do mean "everything", for freedom in this country; for the simple act of being allowed dignity and respect, to be able to smile honestly and to speak truthfully and to breathe the air of equality and justice. Who will teach them? How long will they have to wait to hear our story? How long before they understand what their elders did for them? How long?"

Stumble It!