Greetings to All.
"The shot heard round the world" is a phrase from the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn (1837). It refers to the first shot of the American Revolutionary War at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, which led to the creation of the United States of America.
On April 20, 2021, 246 years and one day after the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, the words “Guilty. Guilty. Guilty” resonated like the roaring sea to millions of people across America, and around the globe, for such an earth-shattering verdict.
The guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of Mr. George Floyd is an important moment in law enforcement accountability and justice for our Black and Brown Communities. And while this was a compulsory step on the road to advancement, we know it is going to take more than one verdict to lead to the creation of putting an end to systemic racism in all forms in the United States of America.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun Let us march on till victory is won.
(From "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson)
Respectfully yours,
Dr. Ellsworth L. B. Weaver, Sr. President, Fauquier County Branch #7059
(Artist Unknown)