I'm going to call on Pearl Cleege. Pearl come up here. Pearl Cleege is one of my favorite authors and when I had this idea to do the Legends celebration I thought well who better to call than Pearl to come up with something. I've been trying to explain to people what the weekend was and after we read the poem everybody. Because we are free women, born of free women who are born of free women back as far as time begins we celebrate your freedom. My sisters we are gathered here to speak your names. You could not have been in each of our little black girl bedrooms watching us with that make pretend microphone. As we lip sink to your latest hit when dinner was ready downstairs or prayed for your safety when our parents told us that you were somewhere fighting for our freedom and that it was dangerous work. I don't have to tell you how it affected every single woman in that place that have to know. From you we learned that love like beauty comes in many forms. You showed us what love looks like when it's perfect and when it isn't you let us watch you looking reaching yearning always moving toward the light of something better. Truer deeper we speak your names we speak your names when the young insurances we speak your names there wasn't a dry eye in the place I mean everybody was in tears. We celebrate your courage we celebrate your spirit we celebrate your genius we speak your name we speak your name. The poem to me was the central force of the weekend because Pearl was able to capture in the words of that poem every single thing my heart wanted to say to these women and she called it we speak your names and that's exactly what it was it was we speak your names tonight I went fully prepared to say thank you what I didn't anticipate was that they would be so grateful I would speak to the young ones in particular and tell you in 20 years they're young black women who will be doing something like this for you saying thank you there's nothing greater than thank you that's what you say to God is thank you