Good evening everyone!  First, I would like to give honor to God, for He is worthy to be praised.   We thank God for allowing us to come together on such a beautiful occasion and to be in the presence of such great people as we honor Mr. D.D. Garrett and Mr. Walter Morehead.

It is with great pleasure that I stand before these two outstanding men who exemplify great leadership and inspiration.  Their presence in our community has helped shape many of us.  We honor them tonight.  Also, as everyone knows, beside, behind and in front of every great man is a great woman/wife.  That is why we also give honor to Mrs. Garrett and Mrs. Morehead; between these two couples we have over 100 years of marriage.  Let us show them our appreciation. 

Second, it also gives me pleasure to pause and recognize the wonderful people who helped bring this event to life, and who worked diligently with me to perfect this hour. 

-Ms. Cheryl Walters, Ms. Betty Maye, Ms. Marie Lynch and Ms. Barbra Lynch, Ms. Tresite Newton, Pastor Rodney Cole, Mrs. Chris Darden, and my cousin William McIver.

Not to forget my three children who asked me how they could help; wrote letters on how to make the community a better place and went in their banks and gave a donation.  As a good father I'm going to take them out for ice cream…after they rake the yard.

And to all you here tonight.  We welcome you and thank you for your presence.

My topic this evening is:  “It Is Our Responsibility to Build Our Community.” 

I will not hold you long, but would like to leave you with three areas that will help us build our community.

According to the New Testament Book of St John, chapter 14, (King James Version) beginning at the 12^th verse and ending at the 14^th verse it reads:

12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

Most of us here have a Christian background.  We have all been taught that God is a faithful God.  In the scripture above Jesus shared with his disciples that all the great things He has done, when He ascended into heaven to be with the father, He gave to us the ability to do greater than He did, when He was in the earth.  He also said that if we asked anything in His name He will do it. 

God has blessed all who are under the sound of my voice.  He has blessed us from a GED to having a PhD.  He has given us jobs from cleaning the outhouse to running the White House.  He has given us businesses, homes, assets, families and the like.  So we know He is faithful.  However, we have more today than our parents and their parents had, yet our homes, our finances; our communities are in a mess. 

This begs the question “what are we asking for that we are not receiving? “   

Why hasn't He given us a better community to live in?  I'm reminded of a story about two men walking in an urban community.  While they were walking one gentleman said to the other one, “why does God allow such filth to exist in this community?  Why doesn't He clean the streets; make the children get off the streets and go to school; or just help the elderly.”    The other gentleman replied, “Why don't you ask God to clean the streets, send the children to school or help the elderly?” He replied, “I would but I'm afraid God may ask me the same questions.”

The dialogue just stated shows how we always look to blame God when things go wrong, instead of taking responsibility for our part.  God is faithful, but every promise of God is tied to an action on our part.  God has no hands but our hands.  The second gentleman did not want to ask, because he did not want the responsibility.

We know we don’t have because we do not ask; and we know that sometimes when we ask, we ask with wrong motives, hence our prayers are sometimes unanswered.

 Well, I am a firm believer that the ills of our society and communities cannot be fixed without each of us lending a helping hand and doing our part, which no matter how small, together becomes great. 

Well I asked God for an answer and He has given me three areas that we as a community must first work on and perfect.

I.                   WE MUST USE OUR TONGUES TO BLESS AND NOT CURSE.  MAKE AN END OF GOSSIPING (TRASH TALKING; GETTING IN EVERYBODY ELSE’S BUSINESS; SLANDERING; HABITUAL LYING; TALKING TRASH ABOUT FOLK; SPREADING MALICIOUS RUMORS)

The scriptures tell us that the tongue is a small thing but we cannot tame it.  We praise God and curse our neighbors with our tongues at the same time.  We live in a voyeuristic, gossip-orientated society where naturally almost everyone loves to gossip. Reality TV is popular today. We can’t wait to hear the new gossip from the favorite stars. We can’t wait to hear about what is going on between Rhianna and Chris Brown? 

Gossiping has become second nature for many people. But gossip benefits no one, it only causes harm.  It destroys friendships; hurts feelings; assassinates character and causes a whole lot of drama.

It took years of hard work, blood, sweat, tears and lives to build communities and in seconds, gossip and lies can tear it down.  It has been said that loose lips sinks ships, or naked truth is always running after fully clothed lies.

Parents raised their children to be productive and law abiding citizens.  Some sent their children to college for a better education in hopes that they could continue the legacy to make this community a better place.  And then here comes someone who did not gather all the facts, who heard Jim Broke Down or Annie Ain't Got Nobody spreading their mess.  Then jealousy sinks in because the person they are running down is driving a Lexus and their Gremlin needs a jump.  So tell me more.  Give me some more of that good gossip. Modern technology has us sending that mess to ten friends by text and everybody in our email bank; or our Verizon circle.

The bottom line is this:  If we were spreading the Gospel and good news about our communities and the work therein, like we spread the gossip and negative aspects of our communities, we could really be celebrating our honorees of tonight amidst a large crowd of well wishers.  And be dancing to the song Free at Last.

But we got work to do.  So we have not because we ask not, WELL I ASK THAT WE MAKE A PLEDGE THIS EVENING TO NOT BE A PART OF THE GOSSIPING CROWD. WE ARE EITHER A PART OF THE PROBLEM OR THE SOLUTION.  Therefore, IF WE STOP GOSSIPING AND TIGHTEN THAT LIP, WE WILL FIND THAT OUR LIFE WILL RUN A LOT SMOOTHLY. 

II.           TURN OFF THE TELEVISON (TV)

I TOLD YOU EARLIER THAT WE HAVE BECOME A VOYERISTIC SOCIETY.  Reality TV is getting rave reviews.  We can watch Jim & Kate Plus 8, and watch how a family copes with 8 children.  Shows like Survivor, Big Brother and “From G’s To Gents; and we are glued to our TV’s as though all is well in our lives. Is it possible that we love to see the dysfunction in others, so that we can feel good about ourselves?

It is time to expose our children to real life characters like fathers who work to provide for their families and mothers who inspire a generation to achieve more; community and civic leaders leading, like those being honored today, who lead by example. 

Our children believe in Biggy Small, Tupac, Lil Wayne, Lil Kim.  Our young talent has gone from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Dina Ross and the Supremes to group with names like NWA (Niggers With Attitudes) to Bitches and Whores.  They have gone from the best names to the worst names and TV is teaching them this is all right.  It is never alright to promote filth as a way to be successful.  Especially when we have people like our honorees and their wives who are living examples of how to do it right. 

You know we can't believe everything we see and hear on that TV.  If we could believe everything we see and hear on TV we would believe that the previous 43 Presidents were perfect and now that President Obama is in office all of America's problems have begun.  If we believed everything we hear on TV we would not know that First Lady Michelle Obama is now the First Lady of the White House, because she is not called First Lady by some media outlets.  But we won't get into politics and how the rules have suddenly changed.

Still focusing on turning off the TV's, according to Dr. Eugene Beresin, "Secure attachment between parent and child is the foundation for healthy intellectual, emotional, social and moral development".  The bottom line our children are a product of who we are and who and what we allow them to become.  So is our community. 

Making a better community starts at home.  We release into society what we have produced at home.  WE need to spend more quality time with our children, and we need to spend more family time together.

III.          We need to come together as a community

We need to go to work.  Let us build our community and make it a descent place to live in.  If we do this we can take our young children away from the guns, the violence, the crime, dropping out of school and teenage pregnancy.  Let us not blame them.  Let us blame ourselves if we don't go to work.

We all know that when mama and daddy are sleeping, the children get away with everything.  But when mama and daddy wake up, the children get in line and start doing what's right.  It is time for us to wake up.

While we have been sleeping our jails are being overfilled by Black males less than 25 years of age; Mothers are burying their children before they reach the age of 18;   HIV/AIDS is on the rise starting in high school.  While we are sleeping 12 year old girls are having babies; 8,500 Black youth have been suspended from school in one school year; Third graders are drinking alcohol and smoking dope; and sadly the list goes on. 

Let me read you the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865)

Amendment XIII

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude (state of slavery), except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

In other words you commit a felony crime and go to jail you are reduced back to a slave.  We must save our children in time.

We need to take on our shoulders the responsibility that God has placed on us to get up and do something for our children.  God has no hands but our hands!

In my conclusion, Mr. Garrett and Mr. Morehead are being honored today because they did not ask why; they asked what can we do?  They have shown us what can be possible if you are willing to do the work and get involved.  They took the road less traveled, they blazed the trails and I am sure caught pure hell to open doors for us.  We must not let their legacy die.  WE TOO MUST ROLL OUR SLEEVES UP AND GET TO WORK!