NGBMCR LITANY: YOUNG AND OLD GIFTED AND BLACK

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black – a great sea of humanity – locked in love and harmony.

ALL: What a lovely precious dream!

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black sharing a common story of royalty and slavery; of freedom and bondage; of courage and faith and doubt and fear; and waiting for a New Day to begin.

ALL: Open your heart to what I mean.

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black holding tight to the unchanging hand of God for deliverance from the troubles of this world – praying unceasingly for love and grace, wisdom and guidance, mercy and justice.

ALL: Open your heart to what I mean.

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black seeking to reconcile the elusive ideal of being Black and American – having been formed in the image of God, yet counted as three-fifths a person.

ALL: Open your heart to what I mean.

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black standing firm on the belief that this Nation has yet to come to terms with the sin of slavery and its legacy – trapping Black folk in a perpetual struggle against an oppressive and violent system of legalized discrimination.

ALL: Open your heart to what I mean.

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black lifting loud voices of civil dissent and disobedience – pledging to make America live up to her promise of justice and liberty.

ALL: Open your heart to what I mean.

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black pledging allegiance to America and lifting voices of praise and thanksgiving, pride and joy for the sweet victories of citizenship and voting, education and housing and serving “my country” in times of conflict.

ALL: Open your heart to what I mean.

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black locked in a 21st century battle against mass incarceration, economic inequity and fractured families.

ALL: Open your heart to what I mean.

LEADER: Young and old, gifted and Black, we reveled in the experience of the first Black President of the United States of America – and forgot for a moment the elusive ideal of being Black and American.

ALL: Open your heart to what I mean.

LEADER: Yes, we are young and old, gifted and Black surviving in spite of, thriving because of God’s great gift of an intact soul – whose spirit soars to higher heights regardless of society’s impositions – whose light cannot be hidden under any bushel of oppression – whose salvation is guaranteed by the blood sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. We are a great sea of humanity – locked in love and harmony.

ALL: What a lovely precious dream!