Let us truly come together to give thanks and show joy, oh welcome child born this day.

"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph."

Haile Selassie I

Congratulations of supreme measure, with all manner of sincere love to the Republic of South Sudan.  By far and away, one the most historical moments thus far in my life to be a witness of.  It is a great comfort to both the psyche and the soul to see a people, a nation, championing for freedom and asserting their right for sovereignty.  After the scourge of the damned Atlantic Slave Trade and what seems like millennium of imperialism and colonialism throughout the world, this story makes that of Kwame Nkrumah that much more real for me as well.

I think back to August 1983, when while sitting in my aunt's living room listening to our copy of the McDonald's record with "We are the World", we got word that our baby brother was born.  Funny the types of things that spark certain memories.  Well, now that baby brother is about to be a dad of his own and I wonder what he is thinking.  Might he be dialed into South Sudan and the strength of their spirit?  Does he see and understand how a new dawn is ushering in to govern his life?  How wonderful that feeling must be on the ground today in Juba, South Sudan.  An African spirit reborn, refreshed today is such a blessing for the whole Diaspora.

I feel a sense that this is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for my generation to get right and get things right.  With revolutions and uprisings peppering the earth; with drought and famine taking hold, again; with natural and unnatural disasters reshaping the crust, let us take this world back from the evils of intolerance, greed, malevolence and just an elementary lack of caring.  Let the crabs in a barrel no longer keep us from reshaping this world for the true betterment of our children.  Let us proceed to that calling with earnest.  Kind of a worldwide flash mob of love.  If the Arab can have his spring, then too let the African have his summer.  Let this brand new energy ball of spirit of love, flourish throughout the land and bloom across the earth such fruit the world has long since forgotten.

I raise my arms with you today South Sudan.  To welcome you and your neighbors into a house of love.  And the same for my niece, soon to spring forth from the earth.