Honoree Mama Viola Johnson
Honoree Speech
I remember…
the anger, the hurt, the frustration.
the “one more thing and I’m / we are gonna blow.
And we did.
I remember.
I remember…
when it wasn’t a parade but a march for our rights
and we chanted as we walked the “Lavender Line”
a thousand strong
ten thousand strong
a million strong.
No longer just in New York City, but around the world.
I remember.
I remember…
Putting my hands on that wall…that STONE WALL opposite
The bar and hearing every voice, feeling every soul
whose labor and love,
whose work, sweat and toil
brought us one step farther down the path
one step closer to the freedom…to be, without fear.
I remember.
I remember promising in that sacred place
that I too would hold space as a living memory for these
modern day Daughters of Bilitis and Sons of Mattachine
as they too travel further down the road to freedom…
to be who we are
to love as we choose.
And now I see…
in the faces of our youth…
in the clasped hands of a couple free to celebrate their love…
in our transgender family stepping out with their own voice.
They keep memory with their ancestors.
They are the promise of that “Stonewall.”
They will *not* break faith with yesterday as they step toward tomorrow.
THEY REMEMBER!