Liberia: Full Speech as Delivered by Liberia 177th Independence Day Orator

ROBTEL NEAJAI PAILEY

[SALUTATIONS; ALL PROTOCOLS OBSERVED]

As someone who loves this country with every fiber of my being, I feel very honored and privileged to address you today.  

When I think of Liberia’s birth as a nation, I often picture fists of all shapes and sizes raised in the air [like this]. Because our declaration of independence on July 26, 1847 was a revolutionary act of defiance. 

Back then, when blackness was synonymous with bondage, we Liberians…