I cried and I cried at the ceremony. I cried for Ossie Davis. I cried for his seemingly barren legacy. I cried for the end of an era. I cried for myself. I cried for I have few communal stories to tell. Oh, how I'd love to tell the story.

I cried for black families oppositional of Ossie and Ruby's unconditional love and responsibility. I cried for myself. I am not a crier but I cried and I imagine I will cry in fear of the end of a generation that defines blackness to me. If they leave, what will happen to me? What will happen to us? What if they have already left?

I will not join the funeral procession of blackness, black people, black liberation which is women's liberation, which is universal equality as exemplified by Ella Baker and Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer and A. Philip Randolph. I will remember Ossie's life. I must. His living would be in vain and that of every bone black ancestor if I did not live my life with the ultimate integrity.

I send my love to Ossie's spirit, immortal and blessed, swirling through the universe. I bring greetings and I extend my thanks: Thank you Ossie for the gift!

by Jalylah Burrell

"He belongs to us. He exists in us. We can be more, Everyday we can be more because Ossie Davis existed and belonged to us." Maya Angelou, 2/12/2005