Purpose: The thinking classes of African Americans have a large responsibility to themselves, their race, and their country. It is wrong to encourage a man or a people in evil-doing and it is wrong to aid and abet racism just because it is unpopular to stand up against it. African Americans have the responsibility to push for improvement in racial equality.
Central Messages:
1. We have the responsibility by patriotism and loyalty to oppose such inequalities for the future of our children.
2. We must strive to gain our inherent rights that are given to every man born into this world.
3. We must strive also for our civil rights.
Validations/Applications:
1. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
2. The Declaration of Independence says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
3. Doctrine and Covenants 101:77 “According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;” Modern revelation tells us that these rights are imperative for our protection, therefore we need to fight for those rights that we deserve.
Values:
Inherent rights
Patriotic loyalty
Religious responsibility
Parental responsibility
Civil rights