And Still I Rise

My friend asked me this morning why do we still have this holiday. In a way she is right because I knew she was getting at the way the day is treated like just another random day. This is why we shoud celebrate:

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.

Bob Marley

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou

Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs

Bob Marley


Happy Emancipation Day.