My Library of Poems: Creative Culture Collection Vol. I

By: Sui Lang L. Panoke

Delivered: All Star Weekend Salt Lake City, Utah. 2.18.23

Redemption Bank Launch Event featuring Dr. Bernice King and Ashley Bell

 

We gather here this evening

For a historic convening

To set in motion the turning of a century

Turning the history of the American economy on its head

I find it ironic that the posterity of our ancestors who were targeted

Are now creating the path that is charted

To lead us to the promised land

Where we can hold social, cultural, and economic freedom in our hands

It may be hard to comprehend, yet easy to understand

That that which we desire will only come at our demand

To sit at the table where economic power in this country stands

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Hope will bring us to our knees

No one is free until everyone is free

Because it is our responsibility

To build the world’s most inclusive economy

Our mission is sitting right here in our laps

In our ability and power to close the racial wealth gap

The American Dream is no longer an illusion

Because we are here to build Economic Inclusion

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Far too many dreams and lives have been lost

Leaving us asking ourselves, at what cost?

How much is equality, equity, and opportunity worth?

How much skin do each of us have in this game?

Because my experience and your experience is not the same

So we turn to the history in our libraries

That educate us of the disparities

That have plagued this country Since 1619

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These learnings, are heartbreaking, frustrating

And, can justifiably lead to making many of us angry

But, the silver lining is enlightening

Because where there lies pain and trauma

Strength and resilience is right around the corner

Where there lies pain and suffering

Also lies a need for healing

And, through our healing process

We will be well positioned

To show up to the Game and plead “No Contest”

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We are no longer playing in the game of proving our worth

The New Game we’re playing is a matter of knowing our worth

And, the strategy to win? Looks like this

Entrepreneurship. And, Ownership.

That is what we are here to sell

I was sold the day I met our friend, Ashely Bell

When I first met Ashely, my immediate thought was

“I love how God is using you for His purposes”

The Blueprint that has been constructed

Could have only been created through

Divine Inheritance

My response was, “I would be honored to play any role in any of this.”

 

We now throw that question to our audience

As you reminisce on determining, What role will you play?

In making Our History Today?

It’s not a question of “if” but a question of “what”

Because we only succeed when the strategy Includes all of us

We will sit in the seat of victory when we realize Creativity

Can be applied to everything

Even, Banking.

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Faith. Family. Community.

These values drive Utah’s economy

And, it just happens to be

The strongest economy in the country

Now you see why we’re gathering here in Salt Lake City

It’s not just to throw a party in the world’s sexiest library

It is to stimulate growth and prosperity

For your family, my family, our entire nation’s posterity

 

As we convert our passion into action

We understand our debt has been over paid in this transaction

The state of poverty will dissolve through evaporation

The clouds of capital will rain down our generation’s wealth

Through condensation

In this dispensation

And, the vehicle that will take us there

Is called, Redemption.

 

Thank You.

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sLp

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