Belafonte Sent His People To Pick Me

There Are Three Things I Was Born With In This World, And There Are Three Things I Will Have Until The Day I Die-hope, Determination, And Song.

I Didn't Have Much, But I Was Always Happy To Share What I Did Have. It Seemed Like Every African That Came To New York City Would Show Up At My Apartment Door At Dinnertime, And I Couldn't Turn Them Away. I Wasn't Much Older Than Any Of Them, But They Started Calling Me 'mama Africa' And The Name Stuck.

And I Believe That It Becomes A Troubled Continent Because There Are Those Who Must Always Cause Confusion So That We Do Not Keep These Natural Resources.

I Ask You And All The Leaders Of The World: Would You Act Differently, Would You Keep Silent And Do Nothing If You Were In Our Place? Would You Not Resist If You Were Allowed No Rights In Your Own Country Because The Color Of Your Skin Is Different To That Of The Rulers, And If You Were Punished For Even Asking For Equality? I Appeal To You, And Through You To All The Countries Of The World, To Do Everything You Can To Stop The Coming Tragedy. I Appeal To You To Save The Lives Of Our Leaders, To Empty The Prisons Of All Those Who Should Never Have Been There.

In The West The Past Is Like A Dead Animal. It Is A Carcass Picked At By The Flies That Call Themselves Historians And Biographers. But In My Culture The Past Lives. My People Feel This Way In Part Because Death Does Not Separate Us From Our Ancestors.