across the country see our success in business, in politics, in education, in community building. Once again, Black America looks to us for leadership.
How will we answer? I suggest you start by listening to the voices of those who came before us. They fought the hard battles. They stood against the very worst of America’s legacy of racism so that we could be here to build our multibillion-dollar companies, to rise to the upper echelons of corporate America and Wall Street, to enable our children to live and dream and achieve. And yet the spirits of our predecessors are troubled and dismayed that we’ve lost touch with the core values that won us the opportunities so many have chosen to squander.
And so, we must take back our race. If not, where will the next generation of excellence come from? Who will lead the BE 100S for the next 35 years? When our children and their children consider us in the bright light of history, what will they think of their inheritance?
I remain committed to upholding our legacy of exellence. I intend to do everything in my power to fulfill my responsibility to take back our race from the diminished expectations and backward mind-set that have taken root in our community. The future of our people, and perhaps our very survival, is on the line. And in 2007, even as we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the BE 100S, I am counting on you to join me in this fight.