00:00Leonardo Silva Reviewer
00:07Well, let me paint you a picture.
00:17This was the night before Christmas,
00:19and all through Essence, what a magical land.
00:23Not a hot comb was lit,
00:25and children lay tucked all snug in their beds,
00:28bonnets and durags tied tight round their heads,
00:31and they dreamt of black excellence,
00:34good music, and of being fly.
00:37Child, you must not have heard what I said.
00:39I say dream, black girl.
00:41You be the most beautiful angel on top of this tree.
00:44Dream, black boy.
00:46Your laugh is the brightest light on the block.
00:48Dream, black children.
00:50Your very existence is a holiday worth celebrating.
00:54And as they slept, their lips pooled
00:57in sleepy smirks as they lay in Essence land.
01:00And Mama, Mama had the darkest skin.
01:03She's the reason why we ain't scared or no dark.
01:06Her love is the light,
01:07and she shimmers like a shape of her sun.
01:10And now across the kingdom, there was the king,
01:13and he sat all snug on his throne,
01:17when up from the quiet erupts a great noise.
01:20He sprung from his royal seat,
01:22and he ran to his window as big as a magical snow globe.
01:26And he peers down to see what could possibly be the matter.
01:30And to his surprise, to his great wonder,
01:33there was a chocolate-dipped tutu hugging a beautiful brown-skinned ballerina.
01:38And the king knew in an instant that this,
01:41this was the essence of his queen.
01:44For she spun with all of the morals we hold so dear.
01:48Come Umoja, Imani, Nia, and awe.
01:51The queen has come to give gifts this blessed nightfall.
01:55And the king cleans his eyes and makes not a sound.
01:58As the queen steps into the moonlight,
02:01she's draped in cocoa butter and beauty.
02:04Her neck rolls like thunder.
02:07Her hips wave like ocean.
02:09Her hair dark as night with specks of gold
02:12like she holds an entire galaxy in a single coil.
02:15She walks like she's been here before.
02:18Like Suzanne Taylor sits in her stride.
02:21Or our aunties hang out in her grin.
02:23Like all of our grandmothers and big mamas hang out
02:26in the train of her road.
02:29And with her lips, she holds the power to inspire.
02:32With her crown, she uplifts her village.
02:35And in her hands, she instills pride in the generations to come.
02:39But what's this?
02:41In the queen's carriage, there sits no gift at all.
02:45What an odd eve of Christmas this is.
02:48She looks up, gives her king a wink,
02:51as she rides the winds to the homes in essence.
02:54And she says to herself,
02:56Now this, this is the best gift of all,
02:59that you, my brothers and sisters,
03:01are the presence of this world.
03:03Now I cannot box our resilience and put it under a tree,
03:07but it's tied to our bone.
03:09I cannot wrap our joy in a pretty bowl,
03:11but we let it ring out.
03:13You, you are the essence.
03:15You done.
03:16You out of sight.
03:17Say, brother, lift that crown.
03:19Lift that crown.
03:20You are a gift to behold.
03:22Now we know pain and we know bitterness,
03:24but we unwrapping it until we get to the light.
03:26We unwrap it until we get to be the light.
03:29Joy ornaments our soul.
03:31Your melanin is a decoration.
03:33We black folk.
03:34So we are painting a brand new future for ourselves.
03:37We are, we choreographing the dance of our past.
03:41Black folk, be my favorite holiday.
03:44And every day we survive is a celebration.
03:47So Merry Christmas to all.
03:49And to all, a good night.
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