"They marched without uttering one word or making a single gesticulation and protested in respectful silence against the reign of mob law, segregation, 'Jim Crowism' and many other indignities to which the race is unnecessarily subjected in the United States," said the New York Age in its reporting of the 1917 Silent Protest.

8,000 African Americans, primarily from Harlem, marched silently down Fifth Avenue in New York. They were dressed in their finest clothes and marched to the sound of muffled drums. The signs they carried, in total silence, said, "The New Negro Has No Fear" and "Give us a Chance to Live."

When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama, and was arrested in December 1955, she set off a train of events that generated a momentum the civil rights movement had never before experienced. The boycott, more successful than anyone hoped, led to a 1956 Supreme Court decision banning segregated buses.

There's been many milestones and leaders that have paved our way - Thurgood Marshall, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Little Rock Nine, James Meredith, the NAACP, and Martin Luther King.

Our job isn't finished!

To be free, we still must claim our own democracy.

We have come so far. I know we get tired, distracted or fed up. We spend our time feeding our children and working to keep roofs over our heads. We worry. We still have a dream. We still have so far to go.

Some say that Bill Clinton was our first black president. I agree with that.

It seems to me that government has not been compassionate about struggles in recent years. In fact, I believe that our government has made our struggles more difficult. Government policies have led to job losses, interest rate increases, rising housing costs, declining quality in education, and problems and epidemics in public health. Government has been negligent and possibly criminal.

Our next black president must be dedicated to working with us to solve these problems. Must our next president have to have dark skin? No. You don't have to have black skin to be black.

What he or she must have - is a understanding of what challenges African Americans still face in our country.

Our next president needs to have answers to our problems - our problems of accessible healthcare, quality education for our children, affordable housing, and safe neighborhoods. Our next president must be dedicated to insuring that people of color have access to voting and to free and fair elections.

Our next black president must have a plan for restoring our middle class and making our criminal justice system more color blind. We need our second black president to care, truly care, about our struggles.

Who will we make our next black president?

At the presidential forum hosted by Tavis Smiley this week, John Edwards poll number rose a greater percentage than the other candidates. (see the chart)

I think that Americans of all colors are beginning to know John Edward's heart and his intelligence - and his determination. He's a man of faith and a leader. He has gotten through to me. I like him. I think I trust him too.

It's my prayer that John Edwards be our next black president. I like him because his message is consistent, no matter who he's talking to. He believes in lifting up the middle class and the poor, regardless of skin color.

My second choice is Barack Obama and my third choice is Hillary Clinton. I think all three can be black presidents, though I do believe that Edwards would be the blackest of the three.

It's not my purpose to convince you to vote the way I want to vote.

To my white friends, I ask you to help us elect a black president like Edwards, Obama or Clinton.

To everybody of every color, my hope is to encourage you to get involved in this election. I'm also asking you to start by signing this covenant with black America:

Covenant with Black America Resolution:

WHEREAS the Covenant with Black America was born of a series of conversations with America's top Black thought leaders and policy-makers, entitled the "State of the Black Union," beginning in the year 2000;

WHEREAS the Covenant with Black America has emerged as a national plan of action - defining and examining the top ten issues of greatest concern to African Americans;

WHEREAS Covenant I is to "Secure the Right to Healthcare and Well-Being";

WHEREAS Covenant II is to "Establish a System of Public Education in which All Children Achieve at High Levels and Reach Their Full Potential";

WHEREAS Covenant III is to "Correct the System of Unequal Justice";

WHEREAS Covenant IV is to "Foster Accountable Community-Centered Policing";

WHEREAS Covenant V is to "Ensure Broad Access to Affordable Neighborhoods That Connect to Opportunity";

WHEREAS Covenant VI is to "Claim our Democracy";

WHEREAS Covenant VII is to "Strengthen our Rural Roots";

WHEREAS Covenant VIII is to "Access Good Jobs, Wealth, and Economic Prosperity";

WHEREAS Covenant IX is to "Assure Environmental Justice for All";

WHEREAS Covenant X is to "Close the Racial Digital Divide";

WHEREAS the Covenant with Black America proposes action items for individuals, community leaders, and elected officials to address these issues; and

WHEREAS the Covenant with Black America establishes a promise among and within the African American community and acts as a document of accountability for our community leaders and the body politic;

NOW BE IT RESOLVED that the undersigned are committed to the spirit of the Covenant with Black America, which ignites our efforts to achieve one America. We pledge to address every aspect of these issues - social, economic, political, and cultural - in our areas of leadership to improve the plight of Black Americans across this great nation.

To this end, WE FURTHER RESOLVE to marshal our efforts as appropriate to ensure that our constituents are informed of The Covenant issues, so that together we shall promote progress and better standards of life for Black Americans. For when we make Black America better, we make all of America better.

Those wishing to sign this covenant, can sign here.

Remembering where we have all come from is very important. After World War II, these were the headlines in the Chicago Defender, July 31, 1948. The headlines on that one page included: 1) Klan Increases Members to Scare Negroes From Voting; 2) Snub Truman's Wife, Friends Are Too Dark; 3) Posse, Bent on Lynching, Searches Woods for Prey; and, among others, 4) President Truman Wipes Out Segregation In Armed Forces.

That was our country just 60 years ago! My grandmother was a alive then. It just wasn't that long ago. Take a look around you now. We have many struggles still. Where are our leaders?

Our middle class is disappearing. Race, as an issue, has not gone away. We must continue to wave the flag of justice. People - black, white, brown, yellow - we all need a more fair economy and a better education system and equality. None of us want the despair to grow and the economics to continue to divide the rich and the poor.

Equality and freedom are at stake for all people of all colors.

So, what's my point?

We have an important election coming in 2008. To claim our democracy as our own, we must still hold our elected representatives accountable. We need to pay attention to the issues they address, make our voices heard, and organize at the grassroots level.

No matter what, above all else, we must vote.

"Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Americans have got to claim our own democracy by getting involved in all elections.

That's it. That's what I have to say.

(P.S. Thank you, Pam, for the handbook. Its been hard to catch on to everything. I think I am doing better at doing the pictures and the formatting!)