We Have Only Just Begun: Get Together Because It’s Possible...Andrew “Andy” Young

“The hungry cannot eat hope. They can't drink inspiration. They need clean water. Yes, they need food. 

There is more money, there is more technology. There's more understanding of human need on this planet than ever before. 

And so I cling to the message of my African brothers that say the ancestors are still with us. And if that be true, we have nothing yet to celebrate. We can only thank God that they showed us that it was possible…to break down the barriers that separate the rich and the poor.

It's the first time the Congress got together and Democrats and Republicans voted sanctions and they overrode the veto and and the UN got together and England and France got together with Germany and Cuba and China  and the US.

 …we made it possible to get this far, but you have sung that there's no easy walk to freedom. And I hear Madiba saying, ‘we showed you the way’.

There is the capacity in this planet that the hungry can be fed that the naked can be clothed that the prophecy of Isaiah can be fulfilled in our lifetime if we keep on keeping on.”

--Andrew Young, Civil Rights Leader; Member of U.S. Congress; Mayor of Atlanta, GA; U.S. Ambassador; Minister and Businessman

(Excerpts from Andy Young’s remarks on the occasion of the Nelson Mandela Memorial Service at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC, 12/11/13)

A Prayer In Community…Jacqueline A. Thompson

Pastor Jacqueline Thompson, Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland, CA. Credit: Amir Aziz, Oaklandside.org

Preparation:

“We come to church in community because sometimes it takes more than just us. We are intergenerational because when I look at seasoned saints, I see how God helped them make it through. When I look at young people, I understand what my charge is: ...I have to help them make it through. But sometimes when you’re in the middle you wonder, ‘who is going to help me make it through?’ Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.

“God is able to do just what he said he will do. He’s going to fulfill every promise to you. Don’t give up on God, cause he won’t give up on you. He’s able! He’s able!”

The Bible says if we come touching and agreeing concerning any matter...because sometimes you need to feel another real live human with blood in their veins to know that God is a keeper...

Prayer:

And So God we come right now as our ancestors would say, ‘in the onli-est way we know how’... We come to you because God literally, there is no other help we know.

You are the God of our weary years and the God of our silent tears. We come before you with bowed down heads and humble hearts because we don’t know what the future holds but we know you hold the future.

God, we’re tired. Some of us are tired of ourselves. But you told us that we could cast all our cares upon you cause your yoke is easy and your burden is light. So God help us! We don’t want to be inauthentic. Something has happened that has shaken us! And it’s because we don’t know that makes us concerned.

But God, won’t you remind us? You said you will never leave us, and you will never forsake us. Some of us are in deep pain. ...you are a balm in Gilead. We thank you for angels that are being dispatched to deal with their situation... We thank you, as the saint of old would say, ‘for being God, and being God all by yourself’.

Help us to keep our confidence in you, not just today but in the days to come. Give us to know that the best is still yet to come. Holy Spirit, fall fresh right now. Stir up the passion and the gift of God! Renew our spirits and our minds, and our body. Help us to seek after you and run on and see what the end is going to be.

And because we are a people of faith, we not gon wait till the battle is over. God, we’re going to shout right now. We are going to thank you for it right now. God is able!”

—Rev. Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson, B.A., MDiv, DMin; Preacher, Author, Administrator and Senior Pastor, Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland, California 

*Please note this prayer has been edited for this medium, but can be viewed below in its entirety along with the sermon delivered by Dr. Thompson on November 10, 2025 in Somerset, NJ. —Nona Ogunsula, Principal Creative, Liberty Ink and Founder, womenatliberty and #LeadershipTuesdays 

Mighty and Big...Zora Neale Hurston

"A thing is mighty big when time and distance cannot shrink it."

--Zora Neale Hurston

Let's Fight For What We Believe In...Aunjanue Ellis

"I am against hate speech. I am against racism. I am against symbols of division. I am against the Confederate symbol of hate that has corrupted our state. I'm asking all of you to stand up for the rights that our fathers and mothers and grandparents fought and bled for. Let's fight for what we believe in."

--Aunjanue Ellis

Aunjanue Ellis' words in 2017 as she protested against her native Mississippi's use of the Confederate emblem as a symbol of pride on the State flag. The emblem was removed from the flag in July 2020.

Impossible Then, Possible Now...Constance Baker Motley

"Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade."

--Constance Baker Motley (First Black Woman in the U.S. to become a Federal Judge)

As we await in 2022  President Biden's nomination of the first black woman to be a Supreme Court Justice, remember the quote of Judge Constance Baker Motley above and remember this wisdom: don't let people tell you what is or is not possible for you? 

Malevolence...Frederick Douglass

"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."

--Frederick Douglass

Bringing About Change...Rosa Parks

“To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.” 

-- Rosa Parks

pexels.com

Be A Tree With Roots...Dick Gregory

“A man [woman] without knowledge of himself [herself] and his [her] heritage is like a tree without roots.” 

--Dick Gregory, Comedian and Activist 

Follow Your Heart...Rihanna

"I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world."

--Robyn Rihanna Fenty

Rihanna is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur who has made a name for herself in both the entertainment and fashion industry. Her Fenty fashion brand has excelled in an industry filled with more established competitors because it embraced inclusiveness and set out to provide a makeup foundation for every skin color.

Rihanna is personally and intricately involved in Fenty Beauty. She said, "Some are finding their shade of foundation for the first time, getting emotional at the counter. That's something I will never get over."

The Fenty brand also markets lingerie, clothing, shoes and accessories and is reportedly worth $3 billion with Rihanna being a 50% partner with luxury brand LVMH.

fenty.com

rihannanow.com

Rihanna created the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) in 2012 to honor her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. CLF supports and funds groundbreaking and effective education and emergency response programs around the world. With the voices of Rihanna and her fans, CLF also engages in global advocacy with the goal of improving the quality of life for young people everywhere. In 2017, Rihanna received the Humanitarian of the Year award from Harvard University for her work with CLF. 

#LeadershipTuesdays: Your Best Champion...Ayanna Howard

“Your best champion and cheerleader is yourself. Always be proud of your accomplishments, big or small.”

--Ayanna M. Howard, Ph.D., Educator, Researcher, and Innovator

Every other Tuesday, womenatliberty.com  provides #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Dr. Ayanna Howard is an engineer and innovator whose accomplishments have been highlighted in TIME Magazine, Black Enterprise, and USA Today. As one of the 23 most powerful women engineers in the world in 2015 (Business Insider) and one of 2018's Top 50 U.S. Women in Tech (Forbes), she says through her quote today that you must be your best cheerleader and be proud of your accomplishments, even the ones that you consider insignificant. In a world that constantly marginalizes minorities and women, you have to learn to speak to and be proud of the qualities that make you special. You should also be aware and proud of how you utilize those qualities to add value to your work.

Currently, Dr. Howard is the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Professor and Chair of the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, GA. At Georgia Tech, she is on faculty in the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Director of Human-Automation Systems Lab (HumAnS) where they are studying how human-inspired techniques can be used to enhance the autonomous capabilities of intelligent systems.

Howard has published over 250 peer-reviewed publications and received support from various agencies including: National Science Foundation, Procter and Gamble, NASA, ExxonMobil, Intel, and the Grammy Foundation. Before entering academia, she worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory--California Institute of Technology, where she was a Senior Robotics Researcher and Deputy Manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist.

See Dr. Howard's TEDTalk below on "Making Robots Smarter". You'll gain tips on how you can talk about your accomplishments without sounding boastful and arrogant. 

*2023 Update: In 2021, Dr. Ayanna Howard was named the Dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She is the first woman to lead the College of Engineering and one of only a few African American deans or directors in the U.S. She is also the college’s second Black dean. Dr. Howard earned her Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Brown University, her Master’s degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and her MBA from Claremont Graduate University.

*2026 Update: On June 5, 2026, the Board of Trustees of the renown Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia named Dr. Ayanna Howard its 12th President. See here for more details. 

Follow us on Twitter at: @LeadershipTuesdays
or visit womenatliberty.com for more features and resources.

Take Responsibility For Change...Cory Booker

"You don’t have to be one of those people that accepts things as they are. Every day, take responsibility for changing them right where you are."

– Cory Booker, U.S. Senator, 2020 Presidential Candidate, & Former Mayor of Newark, NJ

https://www.booker.senate.gov

Be inspired! Watch Heather Headley as she sings "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand": 

Being Black In America

“I think the experience of being black in America creates resilience—a steady steadiness. And it creates courage and pride. Not pride in a boastful way, but being proud, as you need to be in moments when you feel completely rejected, completely ignored, overlooked, sidelined.”


—A senior executive of a Fortune 50 financial services firm

Quote taken from "Beating the Odds" by Laura Morgan Roberts, Anthony J. Mayo, Robin J. Ely, & David A. Thomas, Harvard Business Review, March-April, 2018

#LeadershipTuesdays: Laws of Leadership for Black Women

"In order to become a leader and remain an effective one, you must always consider yourself a Very Important Person (VIP). This doesn’t mean that you should be arrogant or cocky and walk into your job believing that you already know everything you need to know. 

Instead, it means that you need to feel confident that you are bringing much value to any workplace and that your cultural strengths, values, and work ethic will stand you in good stead as you go about learning how to do your job, and that you will be successful despite any challenges you may face, whether they are small or large."

--Elaine Meryl Brown, Marsha Haygood and Rhonda Joy McLean Joy McLean, Authors, "Laws of Leadership for Black Women"

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Today's we offer an inspiring quote from the authors of "The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women" and a recent Wall Street Journal article on the disappointing lack of women in CEO roles.

Currently there are 33 women CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies, a net increase of nine from 2018 to 2019. For women of color, the results are not so promising. Ursula Burns, one of the most visible black women Fortune 500 CEOs, retired from Xerox as the CEO and Chairman of Xerox in 2016 leaving a definite void. Last year, Mary Winston was the only one woman of color on the list of Fortune 500 CEOs when she was named interim CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond. She held the interim position for seven months.

The issues that are preventing women from reaching the top leadership positions include access to C-Suite positions, being considered for the "CEO pipeline", and also sponsors that help them get leadership opportunities in operations where they will get profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities. One thing is for sure you have to have mentors and sponsors who believe in you and your abilities and are willing to open doors for you. Otha "Skip" Spriggs, President and CEO of the Executive Leadership Council, a nonprofit organization that opens channels of opportunity for the development of Black executives, said that there is not a lack of talented and qualified Black managers, but there is 'an access issue'.

Lastly as the quote above encourages, women especially women of color must see themselves as C-suite and CEO material and prepare yourself throughtout your career for these type of opportunities. Seek training and assignments that will develop your leadership skills. Further, don't get pigeonholed in traditional managerial tracks that don't offer P&L and other operations' experience. You are capable, you are smart, you bring value and you have a work ethic that prepares you to lead at the highest level. Carpe Diem!

To read today's featured article, "Where Are All the Women CEOs ( WSJ), click here. Follow us on Twitter at: @LeadershipTuesdays

or visit womenatliberty.com.

Write It and Speak It...Ciara

"I truly believe that if you put your goals in writing, speak them out loud, and work for them, they will happen."

--Ciara

I'm Clear Why I'm Here...Frederick D. Haynes III

Can you follow your Father’s voice in spite of the noise?

--Reverend Dr. Freddy Haynes III

To view more of this clip, go to: http://ow.ly/RSo330qgeqa

For the entire sermon, go to: https://youtu.be/WAPkBhcl0-8

You Have To Have A Plan...Nipsey Hussle

"The most important thing, number one, is you gotta get rid of doubt. If you got doubt in what you're doing, it's not gonna work and the way to do that is you have a plan. 'Cause if you got a plan, it's not just like a pipe-dream, you have a step-by-step list of things to do to get to your goal. If you don't have that, it's very hard to really have faith in what you're doing 'cause soon as something pop up, it's gonna look like the end-all."

-- Nipsey Hussle, (Ermias Joseph Asghedom, 1985-2019), Rapper and Entrepreneur 

Choose To Step Up...Andrew Gillum

"I don't want to be that person who's looking squarely at the shortcomings in the process right where I sit and then choose to walk away and do nothing."

--Andrew Gillum, 126th Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida 

In 2018, Andrew Gillum was the first black nominee of the Democrat Party for the office of Governor in Florida.

#LeadershipTuesdays: Your First Move in Change Management...Aja Brown

"I recommend leaders tackle the hardest things first because they may take the longest for you to actually impact. And if you have a time limit as most people do, you need to be effective with how you deploy your time, your resources and your people. So it's critical to really work through those hard things quickly and early on so you can have a realistic strategy to be successful."*

--Aja Brown, Mayor, Compton, California

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Today we profile Aja Lena Brown, the 18th mayor of Compton, California.

Brown made history in 2013 by defeating the incumbent Eric J. Perrodin to become the youngest mayor ever elected in Compton. She is currently serving her second term as mayor having been reelected in 2017.

Mayor Brown is an example of a home grown talent with vision and passion to make a difference. She went to school and grew up in the area where she serves as mayor and she is the embodiment of one who believes that change is not only possible and but doable.

Brown launched a 'New Vision for Compton’, a revitalization strategy centered on 12-key principles that focuses on family values, quality of life, economic development and infrastructural growth, and began her work in Compton. Her goal is to improve outcomes through policy reform, innovation and strategic partnerships. Since becoming Mayor, she has  accomplished the following:

• Decreased homicides from 2014 to 2015;

• Reduced the unemployment rate by 50 percent in Compton from 18 percent in July of 2013, to 9 percent in the month of December 2015;

• Executed policy that improves access to Compton City employment through the First Source Hiring Agreement, adopted in October 2013, which mandates 35 percent local hiring for city assisted and funded projects; and

• Eliminated hourly motel rentals and condemning businesses that incubate human trafficking, and other illicit activity.

Brown is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy, Urban Planning and Development and Master’s degree in Urban Planning with a concentration in Economic Development. She is married to her best friend Van Brown and they are the proud parents of their first child, a daughter named J'ael.

For more information on Leadership Tuesdays and WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here.

*Quote from GLS Conference, Chicago, Illinois, August 2019

A Sunday Blessing...Thema Bryant-Davis

"May this be the season your spirit awakens. May this be the season you remember your name. May this be the day your clarity returns."

--Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis, Minister, Psychologist and Educator 

@drthema 

Be Someone Better Each Day...Sidney Poitier

"I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before."

--Sidney Poitier

African American Film Critics Honor Sidney PoitierFebruary 2017