And to serve you.

Because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing.

A Detroit that works for everyone.

We are a city of innovators, of champions, of change makers.

Tonight, Detroit, we step forward together in this next great chapter.

Together, we will invest in every corner of our city.

Rebuilding our neighborhoods, creating great jobs, lifting every Detroiter out of poverty, and reclaiming Detroit as its wifeful place among the world's greatest things.

Together, we made history, Detroit.

Together, we will build a brighter future.

Together, we will rise higher.

Hi, welcome to the Rise Higher Detroit Transition Office.

I am proud to announce that we are headquartered right here in our neighborhood at the beautiful Mary Grove campus.

It's a new day.

And I'm feeling good.

You know how I feel.

You know how I feel.

It's a new life.

Butterflies are having fun.

You know what I mean?

Sleep in peace when day is done.

That's what I mean.

And this old one is a newer and a boa.

She stands here proudly.

As the first woman ever elected to lead this great city, whether you voted for me or not.

I am here to listen to you.

To fight for you and to serve you.

Because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing.

A Detroit that works for everyone.

We are a city of innovators, of champions, of change makers.

Tonight, Detroit, we step forward together in this next great chapter.

Together, we will invest in every corner of our city, rebuilding our neighborhoods, creating great jobs, lifting every Detroiter out of poverty, and reclaiming Detroit as its wifeful place among the world's greatest things.

Together, we made history Detroit.

Together, we will build a brighter future.

Together, we will rise higher.

Hi, welcome to the Rise Higher Detroit Transition Office.

I am proud to announce that we are headquartered right here in our neighborhood at the beautiful Mary Grove campus.

It's a new sun.

Dragonfly out in the sun.

You know what I mean, don't you know?

But the flies are having fun.

You know what I mean?

Sleep in peace one day is done.

That's what I mean.

And this old one is a newer in a boat.

She stands here proudly as the first woman ever elected to leave this great city.

Whether you voted for me or not, I am here to listen to you.

So fight for you and to serve you.

Because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing.

A Detroit that works for everyone.

We are a city of innovators of champions of change makers.

Tonight, Detroit, we step forward together in this next great chapter.

Together, we will invest in every corner of our city, rebuilding our neighborhoods, creating great jobs, lifting every Detroiter out of poverty, and reclaiming Detroit as its rightful place among the world's greatest seats.

Together, we may history Detroit.

And now the seventy-sixth Mayor of the City of Detroit, Mary Sheffield.

Now join us in singing the national anthem performed by Detroit Opera House resident artist Brianna Robinson.

Please welcome to the stage, the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences Choir to sing the Black National Anthem.

Hi, my name is Derek.

We are rising higher to build a future Detroit deserves, and everyone is here for it.

Let's it freeze out loud as the road single song, sing the song of the faith and the heart that is talking.

Let's freedom bring so the victory is on.

Let's freedom read.

Let's march on.

Let's freedom bring to the victory is mine.

You may now be seated.

For the invocation, we have four of our esteemed faith leaders, beginning with the Reverend Spencer Ellis, pastor of Citadel of Praise, the Reverend Faith Fowler, pastor of Cass Community United Methodist Church, Rabbi Israel Penson, Director of the Sobel Fellowship House, and Imam Rodwan Mardini from the American Muslim Center.

Dear gracious and eternal God, we stop today to say thank you.

Thank you for bringing us to this day.

This day that's marked new leadership.

This day that marks new possibilities.

We thank you for all these wonderful leaders that stand before you on today.

And we thank you especially for our mayor, the honorable Mary Sheffield.

The first woman to lead this awesome city.

We pray and we cover her on today.

I ask that you will give her clarity in every decision that she makes.

Give her strength in every difficult moment.

Give her compassion for every neighborhood, every street corner, and every family that she serves.

And Father, on today, we declare that the best days of Detroit are not behind us, but they are in front of us.

For eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither have we even entered to our hearts the great things you're going to do in this city under this great administration, and Father, we can't wait to see it.

So bless Detroit, bless the people, bless the leaders, bless everybody.

We pray in your name, Jesus.

Amen.

God of Abraham and Moses and Jesus.

God of Eve and Sarah, Esther, and Ruth and the Mary's, including our Mary.

Irma Henderson, Mary Ann Mahaffey, Joanne Watson, and Yvonne Sheffield.

So that they might also witness history being made.

Grant our new mayor and the others' leaders organized here the perseverance and resolve to prioritize making poverty history.

So that the children have medicine and the mothers have critical birthing and child care support.

So our schools have tools and teachers to educate all students.

So that renters become homeowners and homeowners become landlords with compassion and the beginning of wealth.

So that all neighborhoods are safe for citizens, especially seniors who have cut their grass and paid their taxes for decades.

We pray that you would protect her and provide for her and the others who are willing to serve.

Amen.

Shalom.

Good morning, Detroit.

On behalf of the Jewish community that lives, that works, that studies, that plays and that gives and serves in the city of Detroit.

I wish blessings and success upon our mayor, the Honorable Mary Sheffield.

Our sages teach us that when a person is elevated to a position of leadership by appointment of the people.

They receive special godly powers to channel good, to channel kindness, to channel all that is godly and positive to their citizens and to those in their sphere of influence.

Our holy Bible calls leadership a position of service and servitude, not one of power.

Our job as leaders appointed to be responsible for people is to be there for the people, but only with a strong faith in God.

This is why my teacher and my mentor, the Lababacher Abbey of Blessed Memory, instructed us to gift every elected official in our jurisdiction, a tsidaka box, loosely translated as a charity box, but meaning most importantly as divine justice.

Madam Mayor, as the rabbi of Detroit, I gift you this tsadaka box to be affixed on the wall of your government office or on your desk as a daily reminder of our responsibility to others, as a reminder of what it says on the dollar bill.

In God we trust.

And E.

Pluribus Unam from many one.

May God guide you in all of your decisions.

May you have the inspiration to inspire others to inspire your staff and your administration to inspire your citizens into coming together and making this entire world and especially our beautiful city a better place to live, a better place to work, a better place to study, a better place to play, and most importantly, a better place to give and serve.

God bless you.

Peace.

In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful.

Oh God, Almighty God.

We're all gathered today in this historic moment of the city of Detroit to rise high under the administration of our blessed mayor, Mayor Mary Sheffield, and her administration.

So, oh God, you're the only one who know all the challenges.

So help her, strengthen her, soften her heart for our people in Detroit.

All of them gather them, because we are one nation under you, Almighty Guide.

Help her to manage this great city that put the entire world on wheels.

Bring back the city of Detroit under her management and leadership and guidance.

Bring back the city to shine all over as the name of Detroit is not national, it's international.

On behalf of the greatest community of Muslims in the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit, we pray sincerely and devotedly that God Almighty help all of us to stand with you in dignity and in the integrity.

All we stand all, the city will come together as a piece of beautiful Mosaic.

So we pray to Almighty God, as your name is Mary and Virgin Mary is one.

She stood and she brought the light to this world that we celebrate.

So we all standing with you, praying for this city to come back, to be violent, to come back, to live together as peace, as shining peaceful community in the city.

God bless you.

God bless the city council.

God bless all of those who assume a public office to serve.

Oh God, inject in their heart, strength, and make them to be the icon of justice.

We pray that our city, our state, our country stand all for peace.

May God bless you and may God reward you.

Congratulations.

Please welcome the Honorable Bill McConaughey, Chief Judge of the 36th District Court, who will preside over the swearing in of the Board of Police Commissioners, City Clerk, and Detroit City Council.

Good morning, and welcome to this most momentous occasion where we officially install our elected officials to their new positions.

This peaceful assumption of power has long been the hallmark of our democracy.

At this time, I would ask members of the Board of Police Commissioners, stand as your name is called.

Eva Garza DeWals, Chair.

Darrell Woods, Vice Chair, Henrietta Ivy, District 1.

Lavish T.

Williams, District 2, Scott Bowman, District 4.

Beverly J.

Watts, District 5.

Lisa Carter, District 6.

Victoria Camille, District 7.

And Robert Jones, member at large.

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I do solemnly affirm.

I do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of this state.

And that I will faithfully discharge.

And I will faithfully discharge the duties of office.

The duty of office to the best of my ability.

To the best of my ability.

Congratulations to our Board of Criminals Commissioner.

At this time, we ask our clerk, Miss Janice Murphy to come on up.

Come on.

Madam Clerk, I'd ask that you raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I do solemnly affirm.

I do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of this state.

And the Constitution of this state.

And that I will faithfully discharge.

And I will faithfully discharge the duties of office.

The duties of office to the best of my ability.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Bring it in.

Bring it in.

I couldn't just shake my clerk's hand.

I had to get a hug in.

So excuse me on that.

Excuse me.

Now we I would now ask that the best city council in the state of Michigan to please stand when your names are called.

When your names are called, when your name's a call.

James Car.

Don't get beside yourselves.

Come on.

James Tate, President, District 1.

Homan A.

Young the Second, President Pro Tim at Large.

Mary Waters at Large.

Angela Whitfield Callaway, District 2.

Scott Benson, District 3.

Letitia Johnson, District 4.

Renata Miller, District 5.

Gabriela Santiago Romero, District 6.

And Denzel Anton McCampbell, District 7.

Right.

I ask that all members of council to raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I do solemnly affirm.

I do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of this state.

And that I will faithfully discharge.

The duties of office to the best of my ability.

To the best of my ability.

Your city council.

And at this time, at this time, we will now hear remarks from your new city council president.

Council may James Tate.

Oh, yeah.

D1 in the house.

Well, good morning, everyone.

Oh, we join ourselves.

Thank you for taking the time to uh join us for this investiture and taking the time to be a part of this very historic, uh, the beginning of this historic chapter in Detroit's overall history.

And before I go forward, I would like to uh say thank you to my parents, Gerald Dean and James Tate Sr.

They are up in that box.

I love you.

If y'all know the stuff that I put them through, y'all would have been clapping a little louder than that.

All right, so thank you.

And I also want to thank my wonderful, beautiful, dynamics, phenomenal wife, Dr.

Netrina Tate.

I was on the microphone about three three months ago, and I forgot to say her name.

And that wasn't a good night.

A good week.

It just wasn't good.

Let me just say that.

Uh, but I love you, dear, and uh God bless you, and thank you for allowing me to do uh this on behalf of the citizens of the city of Detroit.

I am honored to stand before you as the president of the Detroit City Council.

I was selected by my colleagues earlier earlier this week, and I'm grateful for their trust and their support.

I understand the weight of this role and responsibility that comes with it and uh how it is important at this time in our city's history.

This morning is meaningful for so many reasons, and for those of us on the legislative side of things, it's an extra sense of pride because Mayor Sheffield uh comes from uh comes to this office from our city council body.

I was there when she first took her seat on council, and I've had the personal privilege uh watching her grow into a steady leader with a discipline and heart, and it feels exceptional to see her, see one of our own step into this role.

As a member of the Detroit City Council, it matters to us that she understands what it's like to hear directly from the residents who need help, to know that uh the real solutions require partnerships with the mayor's administration, and that administration is now hers to shape and God.

It also matters that she understands the pressures on working families and the pride in our neighborhoods and the pride that our neighborhoods carry.

After more than a decade of service in our city government, she has shown that she is ready, and I congratulate you, Mayor Sheffield, uh, and your family on this very historic day.

As we move forward, City Council will do its part with accountability and respect while working in partnership with the mayor and her administration.

We will support Mayor Sheffield and will also push her what is needed to make sure that our residents are getting the results that they deserve.

We will stay focused on impact because the city succeeds when all of our residents have an opportunity to fill it.

I'm proud of each one of my each one of my city council colleagues to see that you all see on the stage.

We all come from different backgrounds and neighborhoods, and those experiences help us understand what Detroit's face.

We will be disciplined with the resources, focused on outcomes and prepare to make the tough decisions when necessary, always with the betterment of our residents in mind.

I also want to congratulate Madam City Clerk, uh Janice Winfrey as she begins this phase of her uh distinguished tenure in office, as well as every member of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners as well.

Your leadership matters, and we look forward to working together.

Thank you to every Detroiter for your engagement and your patience and your belief in this city.

Your voices, your voices help shape our work, and your expectation pushes us to do better.

As we begin this new term, I am confident that, as said before, Detroit's best days are still ahead of us.

And I look forward to working with all of our partners to keep our city moving forward.

Finally, and I kind of heard them over there on the side.

I want to thank the residents of District One for trusting me to represent you, and I will continue to do so with integrity, love, and pride.

D1 for life, y'all.

Love you.

God bless you and congratulations to all of our leaders.

Please welcome Detroit poet laureate, Jessica Kerr Moore.

We rise higher, a poem honoring the 76th mayor of Detroit, Mary Sheffield.

When you are a woman in any race, the baton isn't always passed to you with grace.

Oftentimes one must go get it with conviction, with purpose, with clarity.

August 5th, 1824, the office of the mayor is created in the city of Detroit.

For centuries, many men would occupy that seat.

Until a nurse's child, a preacher's daughter with historical roots tracing back to the 1800s, our grandfather's inheritance, until she decided to put her foot on the starting line, her distinct voice into the very male-dominated sound of leadership, and began to move powerfully into her broader purpose.

On November 4th, Detroit didn't cast this mandated vote for a politician.

They voted for a person.

A hugger.

A proud Detroiter raised on the West side, a woman that literally pulls up for the people, occupies the block, and fills up auditoriums with students for a state of the youth.

A compassionate human holding the line for her resilient city.

She raised up from a Phoenix metropolis, an unbearable city with unstoppable people, despite attempts to erase us.

This is what our sister Mary is made from.

One of those post-rebellion babies who sat on the hemline of elders, taking notes and turning it into action, watching how they held it together, skin and bone, underground and undertow.

Detroit refinery, yes, we know.

Yes, sir, yes, ma'am, and what up though.

A city of mustards, a city of moshids and churches, synagogues and temples, a city built up by Up South hands and blue-collar grit, a city that gave the world techno and Motown, cold trains, harp, and smoky smile.

From the Davison to Seven Mile, Mary Sheffield has been in this work for a while.

Legacy in her DNA.

A pastime perseverance, she lays inside running shoes, a focus that continues to grow with time and with love from family, reflected in community.

She is the result of the recipe requiring patience, some fire, an oven, a promise, some love, some resistance, some swagger, some hope, some joy, a lot of hearts, some water, less water shutoffs, some wonder, some time to cook.

And eventually she rises to an occasion, an historical moment of time that only took us 324 years to prepare our beloved to Nation City into a future that is fearless, feminine, grassroots, and unapologetic.

With commitment to equity and economic justice for all, a leadership that wraps itself in the needs of neighborhoods, invests in its citizens, feeds the hungry, inspires our youth, and gives voice to everyone who lives, works, loves, raises families, and has the audacity to dream here.

She has actually been walking the actual walk.

And when she runs, she actually runs.

Because we run 313.

During a time when it's not always easy for black girls to see themselves in the future, we can ask Katanji Brown Jackson, as Phyllis Wheatley, ask Shirley Chisholm, or we can reach into our own Pantheon leadership about being a woman and being first.

It's in the courage.

It's in our hearts.

How we use our collective imagination to see ourselves in a place, a seat, a position, a room at a table.

Others may not believe possible or even belong to you, to us, to a city.

But Mayor Sheffield knows exactly who she is.

And so does the D.

That's why we are not surprised when her first bold announcement as mayor is centered around lifting up pregnant mothers and babies.

And fighting for poverty is an investment, a recipe for humanity, whipped up in our soup kitchens, on the front line, in our classrooms, and our boardrooms and our birthing centers on the strong shoulders of every woman that came before her.

If you want to know how to make a city become a leading example to the world, if you want people to thrive, not empires, then you have to know who to hire.

Congratulations, Mayor Mary Sheffield, together, Detroit will rise higher.

I love you.

I'm so proud.

I love you.

I don't want to mess up your life.

And now for this history making moment, please welcome senior U.S.

District Court judge for the Eastern District of Michigan, Denise Paige Hood, who will swear in Detroit's 76th mayor, the honorable Mary Sheffield.

I'm just saying not here, right?

Not yet.

Good day, Detroit.

I'm not sure why I had to follow the poet.

But this is a historic occasion.

It's the swearing in of the 76th mayor of the city of Detroit.

It's the swearing in of the first woman to serve as mayor of the city of Detroit.

It's the swearing in of an African American woman to be mayor of the city of Detroit.

Mary Sheffield, this is your day.

It's a historic day.

You dreamed of it.

You worked of it.

You deserve it.

Today you stand on a family legacy of political and community support.

Today you stand on a legacy of women who came before you who worked in the home, the factory, uh city council, school board, Congress, the governor's office, and almost the White House.

You're prepared by the things that you've already accomplished as a city councilwoman as the council's president.

Detroiters, it's your day too.

You overwhelmingly voted for Mary Sheffield to be the mayor of the now.

In supporting her.

And as you know, I'm going to give you the oath.

Yes, ma'am.

And now we're ready.

Okay.

Mayor Sheffield, do you solemnly affirm that you will uphold the Constitution of the United States of America?

Yeah, and the Constitution of the State of Michigan, and that you will faithfully and honorably fulfill the duties of mayor of the city of Detroit to the best of your ability.

If so, say I will.

I will.

All right, rise higher.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Woo.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Well, good morning, Detroit.

I stand before you all deeply deeply humbled and honored to serve as the 76th mayor for the great city of Detroit.

And I am deeply grateful to be the first woman to lead this city in its 324-year history.

We did it.

To all of the courageous women who paved the way for me to stand here today, Irma Hinderson, Mary Ann Mahaffey, Joanne Watson, Brenda Jones, Levon Sheffield, and many more, we say thank you.

I want to first start off by giving honor to God.

Because before I was even formed in my mother's womb, he knew me.

He had a plan, a purpose, and a calling over my life.

And throughout this journey, I didn't always know every step ahead, but I trusted the calling.

And I kept moving forward.

And if this means anything this moment today, I hope that it reminds every Detroiter of this truth, that every single person gathered here today.

Every Detroiter across this city has a purpose, has a unique gift, one that no one else can offer in quite the same way.

And when we choose to walk in that purpose, when we choose faith over fear, courage over doubt, and we choose to say yes, even when the path is not always clear.

Extraordinary things can happen.

Yep.

I want to first thank my family who is here today.

I want to first thank my family who is here today, uh, first and foremost for their love, for believing in me, for grounding me in the values that continue to guide me each and every day.

Can we give my family a round of applause?

I love you all.

I want to especially recognize my incredible husband who is here today.

My rock and thank you, honey, for your unconditionable love and support.

I love you deeply.

Special thanks to our Chief Judge McConichal, Judge Hood for officiating today's investiture, and to my former colleagues of the Detroit City Council and new members of the City Council.

Thank you all for your partnership, and I'm looking forward to the continued work ahead.

And of course, special congratulations to City Council President James Tate and City Council President Pro Tim, Coming Young.

We've made tremendous strides working together, and I'm looking forward to that continued partnership and movement as we move this city forward.

Thank you to our city clerk, Janice Winfrey, and of course the Board of Police Commission as well for your service and all that you all do.

District 5, I know.

We're alive too.

To my predecessor, Mayor Mike Duggan.

Mr.

Mayor for your remarkable leadership, your service and partnership over the past 12 years, for leading our city through recovery and rebuilding confidence in Detroit's future.

I say thank you.

To the many elected officials, public servants at the local, county, state, and federal levels, to our business, philanthropic, faith, and community leaders that are all gathered here today.

Thank you all for your service.

This is what a unified Detroit looks like.

I look forward to working with each of you as we move this entire city and our region forward together.

And to the people of Detroit, the soul and heartbeat of this city, today we begin a new chapter.

I gratefully accept the trust that you all have placed in me, and I embrace the responsibility of this historic moment.

But this moment does not belong to one person.

It belongs to every neighborhood in this city, from the east side to the west side to Southwest Detroit, to every first responder and every essential worker, to parents working hard every single day, to our brothers and sisters in labor, to our seniors and our retirees, and to the children of Detroit, watching this moment unfold from classrooms in their homes, seeing what is possible when a city believes in itself and in its future.

Detroit, we reach this moment together.

You are the reason that we are here today.

I say thank you, thank you, thank you, Detroit.

As a proud, proud daughter of this city, from the very beginning, I was taught that public service is a sacred responsibility, one that calls us to lead with integrity, to act with humility, and remain rooted in purpose.

That belief was instilled in me at a very young age by my parents, a nurse and an educator and a civil rights minister.

They taught me that service means believing in something greater than yourself.

But those weren't just ideas, they were values that I saw lived out every single day.

I saw them as a little girl standing on the front line of civil rights protest.

And in each of these experiences, I witnessed extraordinary leaders who led with strength, purpose, and love.

Detroit, over the past 12 years, I've seen that same spirit alive and well in our city.

And it is that same spirit that will carry us forward in this next chapter.

In this next chapter, we draw our strength from the prayers, the purpose, and the power of generations who came before us.

Those who understood that improving the quality of life for all Detroiters is not the work of one leader, but the responsibility of an entire city.

Here in Detroit, Dr.

King first shared his dream, calling this city in this nation to become a beloved community.

And that call is still relevant today.

And it calls on all of us, not just those in elected office, but every resident, every community leader, every neighborhood, every institution that is gathered here today to do our part.

Detroit, our futures are bound together.

The success of this city cannot be measured by the progress of a few, but it must be measured by the well-being of all.

Every family and every community in this city.

So the question before us is clear.

Where do we go from here, Detroit?

In this next chapter, we must commit ourselves to the work of building a beloved community, one that is rooted in dignity, justice, and opportunity for every Detroiter.

In this administration, every voice will guide our path, including voices that for too often have been overlooked.

We will work every single day to build a Detroit that works for everyone by strengthening and investing in our neighborhoods, expanding access to programs and city services, and ensuring that every Detroiter truly feels the resurgence of our city.

That means safe and affordable housing, good paying jobs that support our families, reliable transit that connects Detroiters to opportunities, and safety rooted in prevention and accountability so that families feel safe in their neighborhoods and children are protected.

We will value the hard work of labor, champion our legacy in our startup businesses, and make Detroit the best place to start and grow a business.

And lastly, we will empower and support our young people.

That deserves a round of applause.

A city where ambition is welcome and opportunity is shared.

And home still matters.

Listen, I have seen the beauty of many American great cities, but it still remains true.

There is no place like home.

There is no place like Detroit.

From our very beginning, this city has stood as a beacon of hope and opportunity, a place for all in search of something greater.

That is who we have always been, and that is who we will continue to be.

This was a very, very historic election.

77%.

That's not bad.

Not bad.

But but it was not a mandate for me alone.

It was a mandate for possibility.

It was a reminder of the strength that we hold in a call to dream big for Detroit.

So as we leave here today, let this moment remind us of our strength, our resilience, and what is possible when we move forward together with sheer purpose.

And so, my fellow Detroiters, on this very historic day, I ask you all to join me in renewing our commitment to the city that we all love.

A Detroit where every person can dream big, and every Detroiter can rise higher.

God bless you all, and let's rise higher together.

Please welcome four time.

Grammy nominated gospel artist Kiki Sheer.

Congratulations.

This is a thing.

I want to encourage you that this short of the morning.

Yes, it is morning to the heavens.

It's dead.

Everything can play for the whole man.

I just see it, I can see it, I can see it, I can see it.

I can see it, open door.

God bless you, Detroit.

I tell you to shout victory in this room.

Please welcome Reverend Charles C.

Adams, Senior Pastor of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church for the Benediction.

On behalf of not only the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church and the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the Michigan Progressive Baptist Convention, we greet you with the joy of Jesus and the fellowship of love.

Let us pray.

Oh Lord in love, thine ear bow down.

Hear your people pray.

Oh, may that love that knows no bounds be in each and every heart today.

We thank you for bringing us together and lifting us up.

Thank you for leaders who are determined to lift up the vulnerable, the least, the lost, the unlucky, and the left out, so that all may have a role in the success of this great city.

And now unto him who is able to keep us from falling.

Falling apart.

Falling away, falling through.

Now unto him who will enable us to rise.

And they may write us down in history.

With their bitter and twisted lies.

But still like the dust will rise.

Do they want to see us broken, bowed head and lowered eyes, falling down like teardrops?

We can buy soul for cries.

They may cut us with their eyes.

Out of the huts of history, shame we rise out of a past that's rooted in pain will rise, leaving behind knights of terror and fear will rise, bringing the gifts our ancestors gave.

We are the hope and the dream of the slave.

And oh God, with your help, we will rise.