Saturday, May 16, 2015

To the great Maya Angelou

Today I speak from all of the minorities groups.

How great you were, how great you are! You left Earth recently to take a new path, a new journey.  But here the struggle continues, and the only difference lies in your physical absence. Today, your people need you more than ever and perhaps they feel that they have lost a great fighter, a phenomenal woman. Nonetheless, you left us a part of you in each letter, word, paragraph and poem of your authorship. Your writings, your speeches, all of them reiterated our willpower in favor of equality but against the unfair.

Even if there is hate, you taught us that we must continue to rise. If we want to rise we need to face adversity with courage. Oh Maya Angelou, you showed us that slander is destroyed with truth and knowledge! Why do I have to be ashamed of who I am? Why it is hard to accept that we are also beautiful and important to the nation? Why they cannot accept us as equals?

Enough of being repressed, I do not want any more abuse! I am as important as you, I am part of patriotism and of the definition of this nation. My feelings, culture, roots, music, everything about me are complemented with your attributes. That makes America unique!

So, what is the problem if we grow? Why do you insist on keeping us a level below yours? You know what? You can do everything you want, and still we will continue to rise. We will continue contributing to our country. I will live and fight for a future where my kids and yours enjoy the same rights.  A country free of discrimination, a country where white, blacks, “mulatos”, and the entire minority groups love and respect each other as the specie that we are.

You left a huge legacy.  You taught us to fight for progress, for equality. No matter the circumstances, or how much we should sacrifice, we can never stop. We need to keep up rising to achieve our greatest dreams. We want a world in which we can express ourselves without fear.  I want a world where there is more love than prejudices. I will follow up; follow up until I get to where you are. From there, I hope to see our dreams come true. I want to see with you a sea that ceased to be black. I want to delight a clear dawn in which we are rising together.

Thank you for believing not only in you, but also in all of us,

Jorge Chéverez Ocasio




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