By Sharma Solomon-Though times have changed, change does not mean we discard the values upon which the Black community has been built, secured, and succeeded over the years. We need to move from the present stage where the majority is living in day-to-day mode of just surviving to where legitimate opportunities are ensured for all to thrive. In the 21st century the statement that Africans are at the bottom of the social ladder must be myth not fact.
The Black community has the capability to overcome, to succeed, and to take their equal and rightful place in society. And the Black community must!
This race carries within its bosom the dignity and power to overcome. The centuries of struggles and fighting against tyranny, oppression and marginalisation day in and day out. Making the plantations ungovernable in pursuit of ensuring and safeguarding basic rights and human dignity, not only for the enslaved but for all humanity.
But in order to overcome, it requires reaching deep within and bringing to the fore what has been lying dormant, for far too many years. Confidence! It is confidence that will make us straighten our backs, stare adversity and challenges in the face, speak out, stand up, challenge an oppressive status quo, and achieve in the name of dignity, for what is just and fair. These are necessary actions to moving forward.
The time is now for us to ensure the Family, the Community, and ALL the institutions of state work for us not against us. Our history has shown we have done it. And if we did it before, we can do it again. Yes, we can reach for that greatness within us and overcome!
Let’s boldly move forward and charge the haughty political, social, economic and cultural forces of oppression and marginalisation. As our forebears did, so must me. Together We Must Aspire! Together We Must Achieve!
