00:00My mother was the person who taught me how to kind of be a normal human and have good manners
00:06and everything.
00:07But I learned how to be black by reading Essence magazine.
00:12Remember that?
00:13We need a voice that teaches our young men and women who needed more than ever how to be black.
00:21Madam Walker made me possible.
00:25Just how powerful, how resilient, how grit filled we are.
00:32Think about what we had to go through to just get here.
00:35The best efforts to destroy a culture and a people have failed.
00:40We cannot be the reason that we fail going forward.
00:45We can't give up.
00:47I'm happy to be here and everybody in this room should be happy.
00:50But we have a whole bunch of people who are not participating to the levels that they should be.
00:56It's our responsibility to take them along.
00:58If you think about how many black women there are in the United States, there's not that many.
01:02And if you think about it, look at all the successful black women in this room.
01:06We outpunch our weight by a lot.
01:09We are here because Madam C.J. Walker literally buys this place, starts a business.
01:16Imagine all of these people who came over, not at their own free will, but who fought for us, who
01:22died for us.
01:23If we don't put our best efforts into assuring that we don't move backwards, then shame on us.
01:29We actually not only take care of families, we take care of the world.
01:33We take care of our husbands.
01:34We take care of even the white guys that don't like us.
01:38Right?
01:38We raise their kids too.
01:39So, love you guys.
01:41I am so honored.
01:42So honored.
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