Rise up.

It is dark. It is cold. It is nearly silent, the only discernable noises coming from the bone chilling wind blowing through the plaza. Nearly 45,000 people huddle together, some in small groups, other in large groups, trying to stay warm. The dark shadow of a hand shaped sculpture reaches up into the sky, but it is dark, and it is hopeless.

The clocks strike Midnight. Suddenly, a flicker of light appears, and a candle is lit. Then another, then another. One by one, candles are lit, and like wildfire, the light spreads.

In the midst of a sea of light, the hand, once dark, once hopeless, is brilliantly and blindingly illuminated, and in an instant, there is hope.

A deafening roar erupts out of the masses. Shouts of freedom, songs of praise.

The hand that once stood alone, the hand that once stood dark and hopeless, representing the nearly 27 Million people still without hope, still alone, still enslaved now SHINES brilliantly. As a sign to the city of Atlanta, as a sign to the United States of America, as a sign to the World that there is HOPE, that there is FREEDOM, the hand shines. As a sign to the believers, as a sign to the unbelievers, as a sign to those without hope, the hand shines. As a sign to the darkness, that the light is coming, as a sign to the enslaved that they WILL BE FREE, the light shines.

In less than 4 days, nearly 44,000 broke, couch for coin searching college students, in combination with a few thousand staff, door holders, and people watching online raised THREE MILLION and SIXTY SIX THOUSAND dollars to donate to organizations that educate, rescue, and rehabilitate those at risk of being in the slave trade and those once victims of the slave trade, the slave trade that is larger now than at any other time in the history of humanity.

This generation has spoken. This generation has risen. This generation will not stand for injustice, for bondage, for slavery. This generation has risen, and is taking a stand. Will you?