(This message was written by Addonis Parker, the artist of the mural, Thunder & Enlightening, placed on our Miami office.)
I gave it my all to understand Freedom. I even walked in the circles of giants to still come up short. In the pursuit of happiness, one must consider the absence of truth. In this brutal age of social and economic unrest, we must find a solution attractive enough for the world to listen. I use to stand by and watch Freedom like a parade, but I never truly participated. The band would march without my son.
Only a few people reminded me of Freedom and the ability to exercise a civil right – given to every man born free. But what about me? What about my grandmother who never saw a Black president and never saw the hope of one? And must we forget about slavery too soon? History will tell us that we came into this free country bound under the night air of inferiority. But the absence of truth is like murder to me. Something must die in order for a race based doctrine to live. A people, a language, and a culture were sacrificed before there was a confederate flag.
Black lives were lost in the building and reconstruction of this great nation. Black lives matter. Stories about plantation life are in print, but we have lost our identity in research material because others felt the need to tell our story. A dark past for a dark people, one would say. But if we conform to their historical documentation, then, and only then, we will have done an injustice to our future. With the absence of truth, there can be no light. With the absence of light, man shall stumble.
Racism, bigotry, and falsehoods are the nucleus of fear with tragic results. The police, inner city youth, and even politicians will never settle their differences using a flag or historical documentation written to benefit a certain class of people. Moreover, without the light of truth – we stumble in the dark waiting with a cry for peace that shall never come.
There is truth given by God. There is a natural law of equality that man must render. In its absence, the hope and act of protest is the platform of change that is required during a state of urgency. However, when we do not exercise the right to vote, our voice becomes muted and the sounds of our protest are diminished to a box of clamor. Our mountains become higher and our roads seem more desolate when we continue to stand by and watch the parade of Freedom.
We now have the ability to live our dreams. We have built a new foundation by the stroke of a pen and a click on a keyboard. The question remains whether the vast majority of Americans believe that injustice in small towns can be a big threat to our values and ideals. And should the class and color system that is in place to divide and conquer the defenseless be removed.
We must unite now! Unity is the will of a people that cannot be broken with iron nor severed in the halls of higher courts. The side of victory will always be truth. History can write itself through the eyes and hearts of Americans who stand together on the plateau of love and forgiveness.
