Slave Narrative #37: Real Thoughts and Experiences from the Perspective of Massachusetts Prisoners

Sacrifice: What is the price we must pay to see our desires fulfilled. What are you and i willing to do for our freedom?

Sacrifice: No greater love does a man have than he lay down his life for his friend. It is clear that no man can want for his people more than what the people desire and want for themselves.

Leaders are born to fulfill the desire that is in the heart and breasts of the people for change, for freedom, and for justice: God bring forth a leader out of the longing and the yearning of the people God brings forth and produces a leader out of the dissatisfaction of the people, and a leader is born from the people to produce the desire change. The leader that god bring forth becomes the Voice of the people, for he directs and guides the cause.

But if the people are unwilling to take the necessary steps to produce the change they desire, then they will perish under a negative and unfavorable condition for god does not change the condition of a people until the people change their own condition.

Changing a condition. The role of the leader and the responsibility of the people. The people, at some point, have to mature: they have to grow into the principal of freedom, the principal justice, and the principal equality and becomes a part of their very being. And when that is accomplished then change is realized.

And guess what? Then a nation comes into existence. Again brother and sister, no man can want for his people more than what the people want for themselves. For example, i told my daughter Imani when she was five year old, no matter how much good i wanted for her, no matter how much a father or a mother wants one of their children to grow up to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or an athlete, or some other career or profession, if the child does not want that for herself or himself, then the parents remain the “the dream.” – and it is unrealized in the child.

And when it comes to the freedom of a people; the people have to want to be free in order for them to realize the light of their own freedom. History has shown that no people who fought, who sacrificed or who died for freedom were denied! NO PEOPLE THAT DESIRED TO BE FREE WERE DENIED, because once they were willing to “pay the price” for their freedom – no matter how strong or vehement the opposition was – they were always able to realize the freedom that they desired if they were willing to pay the price and sacrifice their lives for freedom. No people in history who desired for themselves to be separate and independent were kept from realizing that independence; though a heavy price had to be paid.

Rashad Malik Muhammad
Norfolk

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *