00:00Gospel music is the offspring of the Negro spiritual.
00:05It is the derivative of what was left of our ancestors standing in the hot sun picking
00:12white cotton with broken hearts.
00:16It is the unique ability of the African American to sing in the midst of storms and trials
00:24and tests that has caused gospel music to soar.
00:29That has caused us to withstand the vicissitudes of life and even the trials of this contemporary
00:34moment are adorned by the fact that we will not lose our song.
00:41It is that song, that radical song, that decorates the indescribable atrocities that we see around
00:50us every day.
00:52And in the midst of our pain and our misfortune is a vigilance and a tenacity that we will
00:58lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven rings.
01:05Fill with the harmonies that are doing those who have suffered and agonized and endured.
01:12And still they sang.
01:14It is a great honor and such a great privilege.
01:19In the midst of all that we are going through right now, from COVID-19 to fighting injustice,
01:27to the struggle to stand on the stage of life with our head held up high, it makes this a
01:33great honor to let America know that we have lost some great names and we have lost some
01:41great people.
01:43But we have not lost our song.
01:46So this is more than a ritual held by some church people who want to clap their hands and
01:51stomp their feet.
01:54This is the adornment of the ages of people who struggled and fought and persevered and
01:59lifted up their songs and sang until chains broke and yokes were destroyed, until justice
02:07was restored, until civil rights were given, still, relentlessly, we sing.
02:17So sing your song.
02:20This is your moment.
02:22This is your time.
02:24And it affords me a great pleasure and a great honor to open up the Essence Festival gospel
02:30stage, listen at the song, and behold the faith of our fathers and mothers.
02:40God bless you.
02:42Enjoy.
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