In addition to self-awareness, imagination and conscience, it is the fourth human endowment-independent will-that really makes effective self-management possible. It is the ability to make decisions and choices and to act in accordance with them. It is the ability to act rather than to be acted upon, to proactively carry out the program we have developed through the other three endowments. Empowerment comes from learning how to use this great endowment in the decisions we make every day.

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Authentic empowerment is the knowing that you are on purpose, doing God's work, peacefully and harmoniously.

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The empowerment of black women constitutes ... the empowerment of our entire community.

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Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.

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[During the 6th Annual Americana Music Conference, from September 8-10 in Nashville, an all-star] house band ... explore the linkages between social struggles, respect for fundamental rights and the recognition of personal dignity and community empowerment.

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