This image is of Peggy (R), then a 19 year-old SNCC member, next to future civil rights icon, Dr. Dorothy Cotton (L), after a 1962 church burning in Georgia—the state that Peggy's great-great grandparents, William & Ellen Craft, famously escaped from slavery nearly 115 years earlier...
MY
WEEKLY
WORD
6.20.20
Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
WE. WILL. NEVER. BREAK.
Dr. Dorothy Cotton
I was moved by the recent release of John Legend’s song, “Never Break” on his Bigger Love album, it prompted me to write the following in honor of Juneteenth…
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We. Will. Never. Break.
My faith is in…
my people
my ancestors
my family
my neighbors
my companions
my comrades.
Despite the terror and the tragedy...
Despite the tear gas and the trials...
Despite the disaster and the devastation.
We. Will. Never. Break.
Despite the lynchings—past and present—
Despite the excuses…
Despite the hidden monsters in our culture...
We. Will. Never. Break.
Racism cannot restrain us
The ropes will never hold us
The chains will not bind us
Unjust laws will not detain us.
White privilege nor white supremacy has derailed us.
We. Will. NEVER. Break.
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— Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
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