Unification Day Remarks by Hon. Lewis G. Brown, II Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism.
Our traditional leaders, religious leaders, invited guests, artists, fellow Liberians, ladies and gentlemen: Today is a day deserving of celebration. Some have asked why, on a Monday, we shut down the country, literally, to come out on this historic Providence Island, a place of special meaning for Liberians, to celebrate National Unification Day? The question out there is, why have we stopped everything? Why this national cause to celebrate, in a colorful way, our differences, our diversities? Why are we celebrating?
For one, it is a reminder that there was a time when we were not together. There was a time when we did not share the common values of our citizenship. There was a time when being a Liberian meant one thing to one tribe and it meant something else to another tribe. There was a time when it was easier to identify each of us, not by that “Liberians” that we share, but more by the differences, the superficial differences.
Today, we are proud to announce that that is a thing of the distant past. To work in government, you need not be of a particular political party; to serve your country, you need not be a man or even be a woman. All that you have to be is a Liberian, who is qualified, ready and able to work. Today, we celebrate that.
We celebrate something else: All across our villages and our towns, you need not think about being in Monrovia to succeed. Opportunity is on the way. Each of us, wherever we are, in every town, in every village, in every nook and cranny, indeed in every hamlet, can now say, finally, we're on the march, where a government can work for all Liberians. This is what we celebrate. This moment is a reminder of the difficult place we've come from – our dark past.
And so, as we walk on to embrace a bright new future of hope and of opportunity for our country, it is time to celebrate with this colorful event. We want it to be colorful, to bring all of our people together. We want to show, going forward, that we will march together; like our song says, “We'll meet the foe with valor